


Wolf University

by ChangingMyUserName



Series: How To Succeed at Friendship Without Looking Like Your Trying Too Hard [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A normal amount of superhero references, Alive Hale Family, Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, College, College AU, Drinking, Everyone is friends, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Human, Humor, M/M, Pack Bonding, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Quidditch, Slow Burn, and they play video games together sometimes, hale siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 13:30:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 38
Words: 31,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12508504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangingMyUserName/pseuds/ChangingMyUserName
Summary: Stiles and Derek couldn’t just go to the same college and not meet. Here is the story of how the pack comes together in their Junior year and everyone wonders why it took this long and how it feels like they’ve known eachother forever.Derek pushes through his social anxiety and Stiles ignores his self doubt long enough to start something great.With special appearances by Danny and Isaac’s love story





	1. The Wolves of California

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to make a prequel to my short story "toast is hard". Turned into a long sterek fic.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     “Remind me why we didn’t get an off campus apartment like Lydia and Allison?” Stiles asks as he attempts to maneuver around the mountain of boxes in his and Scott’s tiny junior year dorm.  
     “Because we can’t afford it!” Scott responds cheerfully as he perches himself precariously on top of the University provided rocking desk chair to hang up a poster of their school mascot the wolf.  
     “I knew there was a reason.” Stiles says as he trips over the shower caddy he forgot he took out.  
     “Bro, how did we end up with so many boxes? Aren’t we supposed to have learned how to downsize by now?”  
     “I think this room got downsized. Is it just me or was it bigger last year?”  
     Scott takes a moment to survey the room from his vantage point and comes the the conclusion that “yes, it was definitely bigger last year.”  
     The boys ultimately agree that the mess is far too great for them to handle on their own and decide to call in the big guns. Lydia tells them to organize what they can and she will come rescue them in one hour. When Lydia arrives, she finds both boys lying on the floor in the middle of the room, which also happens to be the only space cleared of boxes.  
     “I’m not even surprised” Lydia says, wading through the pile of shoes that are blocking her entry. From his position on the floor Stiles can see the gears turning in her head as she surveys the room. “Okay,” Lydia claps her hands, “first things first, put away the clothes.” Stiles and Scott groan as she needles them with her toe until they get off the floor to start doing what she says. With Lydia giving the orders, they make good progress. Allison joins the group after her French club officer meeting and they manage to move the boys in by dinner time.  
     The little group decides to reward themselves by ordering pizza and breaking out the beer Stiles and Scott bought on their drive to campus. They settle in and catch each other up on what’s been going on in their lives since they last met at Lydia’s summer barbeque.  
     Just the four of them hanging out in a dorm room like this reminds Stiles of freshman year. Except he doesn’t have a massive crush on Lydia any more. The first time he ever saw Lydia, he thought she was so beautiful. But then he got to know her, and learn how smart she is, and he fell even harder for her. Unfortunately for Stiles, she dated Jackson on and off all year. He was, of course devastated by this, but after one of their more awful “break ups” Stiles and Lydia found themselves up all night on the floor of the girls hallway having a long talk about love and life in general. That’s when Stiles stopped obsessing long enough to form what has become one of the most important friendships in his life. Stiles looks up at his friends. Lydia is making herself comfortable on his bed across from Scott and Allison, who still look at eachother like they hung the moon. Those two have been together for almost two years and and there is no doubt in Stiles’ mind that they’re gonna make it. So naturally Stiles already has his best man speech fully planned out.  
     During a lull in the conversation Scott looks over at Stiles and says, “Yo dude, beer pong?”  
     “Yes let's go” Stiles says. The two of them jump from their beds and each roll out a three drawer dresser from underneath. As they push the dressers together, Allison gets out a bag of red solo cups to arrange on the table while Lydia fills them with beer. They play one-on-one matchups, and it soon becomes clear to Stiles that the game is rigged. He can’t win against anyone. Scott is the long running beer pong champion, and Allison has always had the best aim of all of them, but Lydia, whom Stiles usually has a chance against, has been on a hot streak all night. Stiles has drank more than the three of them combined. Totally. Rigged.  
     “So where are Danny and Jackson anyway?” Scott asks as he sets up the cups for his re-rematch with Stiles.  
     “Danny already has an assignment to work on for his computer science class tomorrow, and Jackson says that he needs his beauty rest to look good for the first day.” Lydia informs them.  
     “And that is why I don’t have classes before one on Mondays” Alison says loftily.  
     “That’s why I don’t have classes ever on Mondays” Lydia trumps her.  
     “Oh yea, what time do you wanna leave tomorrow morning?” Scott asks.  
     “Starts at 9? Uhh 8:30?” Stiles says. The two boys have their first Business 101 class the next morning. When they realized that they would be attending the same university, Stiles and Scott made a pact to take all the same electives. This semester is business.  
     “Sounds good” Scott says, obviously not as concerned about his sleep schedule, or Stiles’s horribly aimed ping pong ball that doesn’t land anywhere near one of his cups.  
     “God I hope there isn’t any group work. Why do intro classes always make you do group work?” Stiles has had the worst luck with group projects. He almost always ends up doing the entire project on his own, and if someone does contribute its terrible and Stiles spends more time editing it, than if he just did it all himself.  
     “So you can learn how to be a team player” Scott says as he sinks another shot. Groaning, Stiles picks up the offending cup.  
     “Okay celeb shot time.” Lydia says, extending her hand.  
     “No no I got this.” Stiles says, wanting to prove his skills.  
     “Yea, keep playing like this and all you’ll get is death by alcohol poisoning.” Allison says.  
     “Well it will be in service of a noble pursuit. And if I die,” Stile says, turning to look at Allison, “I want you to make sure that my group members lower me into my grave. Just so they can let me down one more time.”  
     “You got that from tumblr” Scott says.  
     “Doesn’t make it any less true” Stiles responds, and takes his shot.


	2. M stands for making friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     Stiles and Scott walk into their Business 101 discussion class a bit later than they had planned. Most of the seats are already taken. The room is small, with only about thirty wooden desks closely lined up in five rows facing a blackboard.  
     “I thought the business rooms were suppose to be high tech” says Scott who, as a bio major, had been looking forward to seeing one of the new rooms the university had been advertising.  
     “That’s computer science” Stiles says, use to the crappy classrooms from all of his criminal science courses.  
     The boys find seats next to each other towards the back. As they sit down, Stiles notes that they are sitting in front of two hot blonds who seem to know each other. The girl behind Stiles gives him an obvious once over, while the boy behind Scott seems surprised by Scott’s friendly smile.  
     Before the exchange can go any further, the TA walks in and introduces herself. She passes out syllabi and begins what seems like an unending in depth discussion of everything already written in the packet. Bored after five minutes, Stiles looks over at his friend. Scott is looking at the TA, but his eyes have glazed over and Stiles can tell Scott isn’t hearing a word of the lecture.  
     Stiles nudges Scott’s foot to get his attention. When Scott looks over at him, Stiles points at the back of his syllabus where he has set up a game of hangman. Understanding, Scott smiles and writes an E on the paper. The boys go back and forth a few times before Scott stumps Stiles with a twelve letter word. They’ve gotten to the point where Scott is giving the stick figure a face and hat to avoid his death.  
     “Try M”  
     Stiles, surprised by the sudden suggestion, flinches and drops his pen, which earns him a dirty look from the TA. Stiles had become so engrossed in trying to figure out the word, he didn’t hear the girl behind him sit forward in her seat. Stiles gives the TA an apologetic look, retrieves his pen, and writes the suggested letter.  
     Smirking at his clumsiness, Scott writes the letter M in the first blank. What do you know, scary girl was right. Oh man, its mitochondria. Damn it Scott, just because Stiles knows it's the powerhouse of the cell, that doesn’t mean he knows how to spell it. As Stiles begins tentatively writing the word, scary girl says, “with a C H” -okay is this girl psychic or something?  
     Scott confirms his victory just as the TA says something that finally catches their attention. “We will be working in teams of four this semester.” -Stiles groans internally, and chuckles when he hears the girl behind him groan externally- “You will be spending a lot of time with these people, so choose wisely. I’ll give you a few minutes now to form groups.”  
Thinking the same thing- as they often do- Scott and Stiles both turn to face the person behind them.  
     “Group?” Scary girl beats Stiles to the punch.- Seriously? Psychic. Stiles nods and sees Scott politely extend his hand to the other boy.  
     “Hi I’m Scott, wanna work together?”  
     Taking the proffered hand, the boy gives Scott the most adorable smile Stiles has ever seen. And, being friends with Scott and Allison, Stiles has seen a lot of adorable smiles.  
     “Yea, sure” the boy agrees, “I’m Isaac.”  
     “Group formed. Awesome” Stiles says.  
     Unfortunately, the TA spends the rest of the class lecturing and Stiles is forced to pay attention. At 9:50 she gives the first assignment and lets them go.  
     “Seriously? An assignment on the first day? I thought 101 meant easy” Stiles complains as the newly formed group walks out of the classroom together.  
     “Get use to it, she seems like a hard ass” scary girl says.  
     “And she seems to already not like you” Isaac adds.  
     “On the first day, that’s a record” Scott laughs.  
     “Try five minutes” Stiles says as scary girl takes his phone right from his hands.  
     While typing she says, “I’ve gotta run to my next class so text me when you guys wanna meet to get started on the assignment.” As she leaves Stiles is given his phone back with a new contact on it.  


     Erica Reyes  
     925-553-7422


	3. Stiles, meet glare guy, glare guy...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     Feeling hungry after his criminology course, Stiles decides to stop by south dining hall. There was something about serial killers that made him crave pizza. As he was waiting online for a slice, he saw Erica walking towards him.  
     “Come to join our weekly lunch?” she asks.  
     “You have a weekly lunch?”  
     “Every Wednesday, 2pm.”  
     “That’s so cute.”  
     Erica takes the slice of pizza that had just been handed to Stiles by the attendant and points out her table as he waits for another one. He could make out three people sitting in the corner of the dining hall.  
     “I wouldn’t want to intrude” Stiles says as the attendant hands him another plate.  
     “Nonsense” Erica says, and links her arm through his and escorts him to her table. “Attention everyone, this is Stiles from Isaac and I’s business class, he will be joining our lunches” Erica announces when they reach the table.  
     “Oh hey man” Stiles says, noticing the boy to his left. Isaac gives him a little wave and and continues shoveling food into his mouth. Next to Isaac sits a tall, buff, dark haired man, whose green henley brings out the eyes that are piercing into Stiles’ soul. Stiles takes his seat next to Isaac and says, “I hope it’s okay that I join you.” In an attempt to appease the hansom man and get him to stop glaring.  
     “The more the merrier” the boy on Erica’s right says. “I’m Boyd by the way.”  
     “Nice to meet you” Stiles responds, finally taking his eyes off glare guy.  
     “And this is Derek” Boyd gestures to glare guy.  
     “Nice to meet you too” Stiles smiles meekly at glare guy; who responds by suddenly taking a drink from his water glass and giving Stiles a crisp nod.  
     Stiles tries to be his naturally talkative self and jump into whatever conversations Erica and Boyd and having, but every time he says something, Stiles receives daggers from glare guy skulking in his seat. Who, by the way, did not say one word the entire time. As soon as Stiles finishes his meal, he packs up in a hurry and walks to his dorm wondering what it was Stiles could have done to piss him off.


	4. Cruses Help You Grow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     “Uggh that was such an awkward lunch” Stiles says as he enters his and Scott’s shared room.  
     “What happened?” Scott asks.  
     “Well I went to get lunch after class and I saw Erica who made me sit with her and her friends- Isaac was there by the way” Scott perks up at the mention of his new friend “-and this guy was there, D something, I already forgot his name because I was so distracted by the fact that he was glaring at me for the _entire length of the meal_.”  
     “That’s creepy”  
     “Yea and it’s even more upsetting because otherwise he’s really nice to look at, but he totally hates me. Scott, why do all the pretty people hate me?”  
     “ _All_ the pretty people don’t hate you.”  
     “They do, it’s a curse, I’m cursed.”  
     “So break the curse”  
     “It’s a curse Scott, you can’t just break a curse.”  
     “Of course you can. They’re meant to be broken. You’re suppose to grow and shit.”  
     “Okay fine, I’ll break the curse of the pretty people. Starting with glare guy. Now, how do I do that?”  
“Start small. Maybe try and say something that gets him to stop glaring at you.”  
“Yes, that’s perfect. The curse will be broken!” Stiles punctuates his last sentence by throwing himself onto his bed.


	5. Criminology Pizza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     It’s Wednesday after criminology class again and Stiles finds himself heading to South dining hall for pizza. He wonders if Erica’s Wednesday lunch crew will be there and if they’ll think he’s stalking them -he’s not, south just has the best pizza.  
     Its Boyd who spots Stiles this time. He points to a table at the far end of the hall and says,      “We moved tables” and walks toward the sandwich station. Stiles supposes that means he is invited to join them.  
     When Stiles walks over to the table Erica looks up and says, “I knew you couldn’t stay away.”  
     “I needed my Wednesday pizza.” Stiles says sitting down.  
     “You eat pizza every Wednesday?” Glare guy asks with a note of judgement in his voice. So thrown off that glare guy said anything at all to him Stiles only manages to force out a “yea” in response.  
     “Why” Glare guy presses.  
     “Criminology, dude” Stiles says, as if that should clear everything up.  
     “I feel that,” Isaac says holding up his burger, “calculous.”  
     Validated, Stiles smirks at glare guy, who only increases the intensity of his glare. Stiles decides to take any change in expression as a victory and looks Derek in the eye as he takes the first bite of his criminology pizza.  
     “So...Batman or Superman?” Erica changes the subject.  
     Stiles: “Batman”  
     Derek: “Superman”  
     They respond at the same time. Erica looks at Boyd and rolls her eyes.


	6. Derek Learns a New Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     “Okay, I know I told you to ask him questions, but I meant, like, nice ones.” says an exasperated Erica, as she walks with Derek after lunch.  
     “I just asked why he has to eat pizza every Wednesday. That is kinda strange.” Derek defends.  
     “And you’re not?”  
     “Of course I am, that’s why I need your help.”  
     “You just have to make conversation.”  
     “Do I look like I know how to talk to other people?”  
     “Okay okay, I’ll give you a list of polite conversation starters.”  
     “Thank you.” The slight anxiety Derek had been feeling reduces a bit at her words.  
     As Derek stares at her expectantly Erica says, “Oh you mean now? Umm...okay...Polite introductory sentence number one: How has your day been? Number two: Doing anything fun this weekend? Number three: Hello”  
     “I know how to say hello” Derek interrupts.  
     “Do you though?” Erica condescends.  
     Derek totally says hello to people. Just last week when he first met Stiles he must have said hello. “I said hello to Stiles when I first met him.” Derek says indignantly.  
     “Did you though?”  
     Looking at Erica’s smug face Derek realizes that he did not say hello. He nodded. Oh god, he nodded. He gave the nod. That is so weird. Who does that? Derek is definitely not cool enough to give the nod. That and the pizza comment, Stiles definitely thinks he’s a weirdo.  
     Seeing Derek’s face fall Erica pats his arm and says “Oh honey don’t worry I’ll help you. Follow my lead and he’ll love you just as much as I do.”


	7. Erica is Better Than You at Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     Stiles and Scott make slow progress towards the library, passing a soccer ball between them as they walk.  
     “...so I said Batman's a self made man and Derek said ‘no powers, not a hero’” Stiles finishes the sentence in a false deep voice. “Like, he seriously doesn’t understand that being a hero is about your mindset and values.”  
     “You’re really hung up on this.” Scott observes.  
     “Its madness!” Stiles flails his arms as they approach Erica and Isaac for their latest project session.  
     “What’s madness?” Erica asks stealing their ball and juggling it between her legs.  
     “Your friend!” Stiles says.  
     “Oh Isaacs only a little crazy.” Erica says.  
     “Hey!” Isaac protests.  
     “Ready to start?” Scott says before the conversation can spiral any further.  
     The group gets as much work done as can be expected on a beautiful afternoon. Which is to say about thirty minutes worth.  
     “Okay, what if we finish our work outside?” says Scott, who has been staring out the window wistfully for the past ten minutes.  
     “What if we took a soccer break, and then finished our work outside?” Isaac suggests.  
     “I like the way you think Lahey.” Stiles says.  
     “I’m in” Erica says closing her book.  
     They pack up and migrate to the soccer field across the street. -Perks of having Thursday afternoons free, Stiles thinks as he surveys the empty field.  
     They take over the whole field to play two v. two. Five minutes in, Scott scores on Isaac so he and Stiles do their customary wolf howl of victory. They realize, however, that that goal may have been a fluke once they reset and Erica starts with the ball. She shoots down the field, jukes past Scott, and scores on Stiles who gets the feeling he would have been just as effective sitting on the sidelines.  
     After a few minutes it becomes clear that Erica is a far superior player. Stiles doesn’t know how he feels about being put on her team to make it even, but he learns to be okay with it as they dominate their friends. It's twenty minutes before Scott and Isaac are able to slip past Erica and score on him. They freak out and begin the most elaborate goal celebration Stiles thinks he has ever seen. It includes hand to butt slaps, leapfrog, windmills, and one unsuccessful attempt to climb on top of the goal, all while singing “all I do is win” by DJ Khaled.  
     Stiles makes eye contact with Erica and they silently agree that the boys have gone over the edge with their goal celebration. Stiles and Erica walk over to their bags and sit down to properly ignore their friends.  
     “So, how’s your life been going?” Erica asks.  
     “Eh not so bad. Classes are tough but friends are good, so at least there’s that.” Stiles says. “How about you?”  
     “Pretty much the same, Derek’s been slightly more of a whiney baby than usual, but its nothing im not equipped to handle.”  
     “That guy does not like me.”  
     “What do you mean?”  
     “You were there, he just glared at me and didn’t say one word until he disagreed too much to hold back, the guy totally hates me.” Stiles explains.  
     “Nah, Derek’s just shy, and he has resting bitch face -which I keep telling him is not a good combination.”  
     “I don’t know, it seemed pretty pointed”  
     “Trust me, he’s a great guy, just takes a while to warm up to people. Give him a chance.”  
     “Alright alright, if you say so.” Stiles says, raising his hands in defeat.  
     “I do.” Erica says, and they turn back to the field just in time to see Isaac lose his balance and roll down the back of the goal netting.


	8. Be Nice, Go to a Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     As he is walking into the union Derek turns around to hold the door for the person behind him. “Oh hey” Derek says, surprised to see that the person is Stiles, dressed in a blue plaid button down- which is a good color on him.  
     “G-Derek, what's up?” Stiles stutters, looking up from a notebook.  
     “Not much.” Derek says. Then remembering that he is suppose to ask nice questions he adds, “How has your day been?”  
     “Oh my god so stressful.” Stiles starts. “Lydia just informed me that she is having a party tomorrow and it is mandatory that I come over in the afternoon to help prepare, which means that I have to get all my work for Monday done today except that I have four classes and zero time to do anything.”  
     “That sucks” Derek offers as they walk down the hallway together.  
“I know, but Lydia’s parties are always fun so it’ll be worth it… hopefully. You should come.”  
     “Umm” Derek is too busy processing the fact that Stiles is actually talking to him to fully process what Stiles is asking him.  
     “Yea, It’ll be fun! I think Scott already invited Isaac and I was thinking of inviting Erica cause Lydia keeps saying she wants to meet my new friends and if those two become friends they’re going to take over the planet - ooh maybe I shouldn’t invite her, that’s scary, okay i’m rambling, you know, nobody usually lets me get this far.”  
     Derek couldn’t imagine cutting Stiles off, he always has something interesting or funny to say. Not to mention the fact that the more Stiles talked the less Derek had to. Not having the courage to say any of that out loud, Derek simply shrugs in response.  
     “Okay well I’m late for class so I’ll see you at the party!” Stiles waves goodbye, hefts his backpack, and runs down the hall. Leaving Derek to wonder what holding the door open had gotten him into. He should be courteous more often.


	9. Social Anxiety Sucks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Its Saturday night and Derek finds himself pacing around Erica’s room. He came dressed in exactly what she told him to wear, down to the socks. Derek is in no condition to be making decisions right now. Social situations always make Derek nervous, but this is different. Something about Stiles just makes Derek really want to seem cool. Or at least like a regular person.  
     “Ericaaaa” Derek wines.  
     “You’re gonna be fine hon, don’t worry.” Erica says, finally turning away from the mirror and putting her makeup down.  
     “You don’t know that.”  
     “I do. Your outfit looks good. Your hair-” she brushes her hand through his hair a few times “looks good. You have at least one successful conversation with Stiles under your belt. You’re gonna do great.” Derek isn’t sure nodding and saying that sucks counts as a successful conversation, but he’ll take what he can get.  
     “Okay, but that’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to talk to him this time.”  
     “Sure you will, you’ll be drunk this time.” Derek had forgotten about that. He hopes he doesn’t say anything stupid. He has a pretty high tolerance but the odds of him saying something stupid sober are very high, so it’s not looking too good for him.  
     “Hey, you don’t have to worry,” Erica says, trying to ease his anxiety. She always seems to know when he starts overthinking things. “Stiles said that it’s gonna be chill. Just a couple people playing drinking games.”  
     “I don’t know any drinking games.”  
     “Well i’ve seen ‘em all so just follow my lead. Guaranteed second place if you do what I do.”  
     Feeling a little better with a plan in place, Derek sits down and waits for his friend to finish getting ready. Boyd arrives ten minutes after the departure time Erica gave him to find Derek still sitting in her chair waiting patiently. Boyd sits next to Derek and they begin their usual game of twenty questions. Erica hasn’t tried on every pair of shoes she owns yet, so Derek knows they have time for at least a few rounds.  
     “Is it a person?” Boyd asks  
     “Sometimes” Derek says.  
     “Is it yellow?”  
     “Yes”  
     “The snitch”  
     “Yup” Derek confirms. He isn’t surprised Boyd got that so fast, he has a sixth sense with these games, it's actually kinda creepy sometimes.  
     “The snitch is not a person, by the way.”  
     “It is sometimes!”  
     “I wanna play!” Erica shouts from the adjoined bathroom.  
     “We’re only playing cause we’re waiting for you to get ready.” Derek says.  
     “I can play and get ready.” Erica insists. The boys roll their eyes at each other. “Okay I’ve got one.”  
     “Darren Criss.” Boyd says immediately.  
     “Oh my god how!?” Erica is angry her turn is over so quickly.  
     “Just finish getting ready.” Boyd says.  
     “No I’m going again.” It takes a lot to deter Erica. “Okay go.”  
     “Alexander Hamilton.” Boys says just as fast as last time.  
     “You’re cheating!” Erica stomps out of the bathroom to glare at her boyfriend.  
     Derek laughs hysterically as Erica wags a hairbrush at Boyd, demanding he reveal his secret.


	10. Four Means Floor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Derek, Boyd, and, Erica finally make it out of the dorm and get on their way to Lydia and Allison’s. They stop at the liquor store because Erica said that if Derek wanted to make a good impression on Stiles and his friends he needs to arrive with alcohol. Now standing in front of the door clutching the glass, all of Derek’s nerves have come back to him. Erica knocks on the door and it is answered by a girl with long red hair, in a dark blue dress.  
     “Hello! I’m Lydia, you must be Derek, Boyd, and Erica.” The girl says pointing at them each in turn. Derek wonders how she already knows their names and faces.  
     “Good guess, but I’m actually Derek.” Erica says. Okay, Derek supposes Erica being the only girl made it a bit easier for the redhead to guess their names. She gives what Derek suspects is a fake laugh and gestures them inside.  
     “So, tell me, how did you get to know our boys?” As Lydia zeroes in on Erica, Derek looks around. They are in a beautiful entryway with a full length mirror and an open doorway that leads into a living room. In there he can see Isaac sitting on a small couch between two dark haired boys he does not recognize.  
     “You made it!” Isaac yells, only slightly sloshing his drink as he dashes over to give Derek a hug. The party has obviously already started, but three years of friendship with Erica has given him an appreciation for the term fashionably late.  
     A girl with long brown hair gets up from the now empty larger couch to invite the new arrivals into the living room. Derek assumes this is the other host he was told about. She doesn’t seem as scary as the first one so he decides he likes her best. That is until she perches on the arm of the chair Stiles is sitting in and drapes her legs over him.  
     Derek isn’t sure why his chest constricts. Stiles looks good sitting there in a black button up and red skinny jeans. His hair is messy, but in that way that makes him seem like he just got in from skateboarding, or some other cool activity. So what, he’s sitting on a small chair with a beautiful girl? That doesn’t mean they can’t be friends, and that’s what Derek wants. He wants to be friends with Stiles, cause Erica and Isaac already are and he seems cool. And fun. And pretty. Oh gez.  
     Isaac has already returned to his seat and is leaning slightly towards the Hawaiian boy on his left. Erica moves past Derek to sit next to Boyd on the far end of the larger couch. Derek tries to sit on Erica’s other side but Lydia maneuvers herself right in between them. He looks to his left and feels another twinge when Stiles and whatshername smile at him.  
     “So Derek, how have you been since yesterday?” Stiles asks.  
     “I brought alcohol.” Derek blurts out, then winces internally.  
     “Oh that's so nice!” Allison says, “I’ll go get some chasers.” She walks off to the kitchen and Derek is left alone with Stiles. He can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. He desperately tries to remember the conversation starters Erica gave him the other day.  
     “Doing anything fun this weekend?” Derek asks.  
     “This, mostly.” Stiles says and chuckles. Gods Derek is so dumb, at least he didn’t say hello.  
     “Ha. Right. Umm..” Derek looks around the room for inspiration. Erica looks confused by the onslaught of questions Lydia is asking her, Boyd looks amused by it. The cute Hawaiian boy Isaac is talking with has leaned closer and is looking at Isaac with such interest and sincerity Derek can already tell they won’t be getting him back until the end of the night. He sees Stiles’ old chair buddy across the room, holding a bottle of coke, talking with the other boy next to Isaac. He watches the brunette, get up, walk behind the couch, and stop on her way across the room to whisper something in Lydia’s ear. The redhead’s face looks as if the last piece of a particularly confusing puzzle has finally clicked into place.  
     “Oh my god, Erica, I literally just noticed your shoes, they are so cute! Where did you get them?”  
     “My closet.” Erica says, looking surprised by the sudden change in attitude.  
     “Well look out, cause the next time I need shoes I am going shopping there.” Lydia says with a smile. “Derek, did you know that your friend has such good taste?”  
     “She won’t let me forget it.” Derek says, nervous as the girl’s laser focus turns to him.  
     “So what’s your major?  
     What do you do on weekends?  
     How did you get to know Stiles?”  
     Derek does his best to answer the barrage of questions. He wonders why Lydia has taken a sudden interest in him. At least he doesn’t have to think of conversation topics. They talk for a few minutes before the girl whose name Derek really has to learn announces that they’re all going to play Kings. With her and Lydia setting up the game Stiles and Derek are left staring at each other again. Derek gets excited when he realizes he’s just come upon a great conversation starter and leans in towards Stiles conspiratorially to ask, “So how long can you hangout with someone before it becomes awkward for you to ask their name?”  
     Stiles laughs and says, “I got you bro.” He lists off the names of his friends in order of how their sitting. After that, Derek finds it easier to talk to Stiles and their conversation flows without too many nervous pauses.  
     The game starts shortly and Derek soon finds out that Stiles is very competitive. Especially when going up against his also extremely competitive friend Scott. Derek can see why Isaac likes them as he jumps right into the challenge and even tries to hold Scott’s arm down when Allison draws a seven. Halfway through the game, a new guy, with what Derek feels is a very punchable face, saunters in and takes Erica’s seat.  
     When Erica gets back from the bathroom Lydia nudges him with her foot and says, “Jackson move, you stole her seat.”  
     “Did she call fives?” Jackson says in a superior tone. Yup a very punchable face.  
     Lydia is about to protest when Erica simply sits on the floor, grabs the bottle on the table and says, “It’s fine, I like to be close to the alcohol.”  
     “If you’re sure,” Lydia says while Erica reaches for a card and flips over a king. “Ooo new rule. No names. If you call someone by their name you drink.”  
     Amidst a few apprehensive grumbles Jackson says, “Awesome, I don’t know half your names anyway.”  
     “It's your turn dirt wipe.” Stiles says loudly. It seems to Derek that Stiles intends to take full advantage of the no names rule. Derek approves.  
     The game continues and the more the boys drink, the more competitive they get. As Derek pulls a four from the pile of cards Stiles, Scott, and Isaac hit the deck before he can finish placing the card face up on the table. Everyone else’s reaction times are a bit slower as they all get a hand to the ground. Derek had been taking his cues from Erica, who was sitting on the floor against her boyfriend’s legs, and realizes his mistake, too late, just as Boyd -the last of the group- calmly reaches down and places his hand next to his girlfriend’s.  
     “DRIIINK” comes Stiles’ voice from somewhere below him. As Derek accepts the bottle offered to him by Allison, he decides that he is going to have to do some serious research if he intends to continue playing drinking games with this group.


	11. Because Regular Foam Fingers Are Boring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     “So Scott actually got his ass out of bed today to join us for lunch.” Derek looks up from his phone as Stiles and Scott join their friends at their usual Wednesday table.  
     “Wow what’s the occasion?” Isaac asks, knowing it takes a lot to get Scott out of bed on his one day without morning classes.  
     “Stiles and I are on a mission.” Scott declares.  
     “A mission?” Erica questions skeptically.  
     “We are determined to rediscover the ultimate brownie” Stiles elaborates.  
     “And how are you planning on accomplishing this?” Isaac asks  
     “Well,” Scott begins, “Last year Stiles and I bought three different brownie mixes and a bag of chocolate chips at the convenience store and mixed them together-”  
     “-and it came out _a-mazing_ ” Stiles interjects.  
     “But we haven’t been able to figure out the combination all semester.” Scott continues. “So our plan is to go to the same store that we went to last year and use our combined memory powers to recreate the day that we found the mixes.”  
     “And hopefully remember what the boxes looked like.” Stiles adds.  
     “Wow this sounds weirdly important to you” Erica says after hearing Stiles and Scott’s big plan.  
     “It’s the most important thing we’ve done all week” Scott proclaims.  
     “It can’t be the most important thing you’ve done.”  
     “You didn’t have the brownies Erica, you don't know!” Stiles says, shouting with enthusiasm.  
     “Okay, Okay.” Erica surrenders, accepting that the boys will never see reason. Lunch passes without further mention of ultimate brownies, and the group begins packing up to exit the dining hall together.  
     “Ready for the game this weekend Derek?” Isaac asks his friend.  
     “As ready as I can be.” Derek replies.  
     “There’s a game?” Stiles asks, putting on his back pack.  
     “Isaac and Derek are on the Quidditch team.” Boyd explains. Derek internally groans when he hears the word quidditch come out of Boyd’s mouth. Sure he loves the sport and he’s not ashamed of it, but some people find it... strange to be on a quidditch team in real life; and Derek doesn’t want his new friends to suddenly thing he’s too weird to hangout with.  
     “Oh that’s so cool!” Scott says.  
     “We have a quidditch team?” Stiles asks.  
     “Yup, and we’re on it.” Isaac responds.  
     “Wow that sounds so fun!” Stiles says. Relief floods Derek at these works. Stiles doesn’t think he’s weird. He might actually want to come to the game, or even play. Derek could teach him. It could be like a thing that they do. Stiles would totally be a chaser-  
     “When is the game again?” Erica asks Derek, pulling him from his thoughts.  
     “12 o’clock on Saturday.” Derek says as the group exits the dining hall. As he and Isaac relay the details to the group, Derek notices that Scott, having losing interest, is gently hitting Stiles with his backpack straps as he turns his body from side to side. Stiles, finally fed up, spins around to quickly thwack Scott on the arm with his own backpack strap. Seeing Stiles turn away from the conversation, Derek blurts out, “You guys should come to the game.”  
     The two boys stop hitting each other long enough to look at Derek with surprise.  
     “We’re getting to the field at 11:30 to make sure that we have the best spot.” Erica informs them.  
     “Well-” Scott begins, before Stiles cuts him off to say, “sounds good, we’ll be there! Which field?”  
     As Isaac relays the field information for a second time, Derek starts to regret asking them to come. What was he thinking? It’s so obvious that they don’t want to come, they’re just being nice. “If you guys aren’t interested in quidditch...” Derek trails off, unsure how to backpedal his rash invite.  
     “Nah, it’ll be cool, I’ve never seen a Quidditch game before.” Stiles assures him.  
     “Okay, but don't feel like you have to come.” Derek says  
     “Of course i'm coming! I wanna see you in action- oww!” Scott having taken advantage of Stiles’ distraction got in a well aimed shot at Stiles knuckles.  
     “Yea but if you’re busy or something don't worry about it.” Derek says as Stiles grabs his backpack strap ready to retaliate. Scott, seeing this, decides to get out while he's ahead and runs off.  
     “I’ll be the one with the spock foam finger!” Stiles declares, like it's a normal thing to say.  
     “wha-?” Derek begins to ask Stiles what that means but the boy has already taken off after Scott.  
     “BYYEE!” Stiles yells as he runs down the block.


	12. Stiles and Scott are basically celebrity chefs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     After what feels like a successful ultimate brownie mission at the convenience store, Scott and Stiles board the bus to Lydia and Allison’s apartment to use their kitchen. Having been briefed on the details of the mission, the girls are expecting them for their seventh attempt.  
     “So, not to, like, burst your bubble dude, but you know we can’t go to the game on Saturday, right?” Scott says tentatively.  
     “But Derek actually invited me to do something, I can’t not go.” Stiles whines.  
     “We have rock solid plans. Lydia made everyone promise.” Stiles knows how solid the plans are, Lydia practically made them sign a blood oath, it has become very important to her that the whole group makes time to see each other all together. He just wishes it was on a different day. It’s not that Stiles wants to blow off his friends, he just doesn’t want Derek to think he doesn’t want to hang out with him too.  
     “I know, but if I don’t go he’ll never invite me to do something again.”  
     “That's not true, he said he would understand if we had plans.”  
     “He didn’t mean it. Nobody ever means that.” Stiles never means it, at least.  
     “Well we can't be in two places at once.”  
     “That would be so cool if we could though.”  
     “Would you keep both sets of memories, though, or would there be two versions of you out there?”  
     “I feel like it would be like you’re experiencing both things at the same time and you would keep jumping back and forth between them.”  
     The boys continue to to debate the logistics of existing in two places at one time for the rest of the bus ride. When they knock on the apartment door they are let in by Danny.  
     “Hey dude, I didn’t know you were gonna be here.” Scott says.  
     “I heard ultimate brownies were happening.” Danny explains. Danny had always been the biggest supporter of ultimate brownies. He was one of the people that Stiles and Scott shared their master creation with last year. And ever since had been encouraging them to find the recipe again.  
     “Well you’ll be happy to hear we did it. We found the mixes.” Stiles says.  
     “Oh my god are you serious?” Danny asks.  
     “Yea man let’s get baking!” Scott exclaims as he gives Danny a high five.  
     The three of them go into the Kitchen and start prepping.  
     “So those kids that came to the party last weekend, you guys are friends with them?” Danny asks taking out the bowls and spoons.  
     “Stiles knows them a little better than me, but yea.” Scott says as he opens up one of the boxes of brownie mix.  
     “Oh please, Isaac is like your new best friend.” Stiles says.  
     “Aww no one could replace you bud. But he is great.” Scott says.  
     “Yea that Isaac kid seemed pretty cool. What’s his deal?” Danny asks nonchalantly.  
     “He’s bisexual” Scott says matter of factly.  
     “T-that’s not what I meant.” Danny studders.  
     “It so is.” Stiles says as he grabs the bowl from Danny and starts mixing with an air of superiority.  
     “And he’s single.” Scott adds.  
     “We should have that whole group over again, they were fun.” Danny says, trying and failing to act like he’s not into Isaac. Please, Stiles saw them at the party throwing heart eyes across the room and laughing at each other’s bad jokes all night.  
     Scott and Stiles stop teasing Danny long enough to get the brownies in the oven. The girls appear at the entrance to the kitchen and watch the boys clean up their mess until Scott looks up, “Hey babe, are you pumped for brownie time?” he says as he goes over to give Allison a kiss on the cheek.  
     “Yea, so pumped.” Allison says, not sounding quite as excited as her boyfriend. Scott doesn’t seem to notice and keeps smiling that dopy grin he always has on whenever he is with her.  
     “Seventh time's the charm.” Lydia says dryly, obviously not as concerned for Scott's feelings. “Now, for Saturday, I was thinking we could all go see that new Nicholas Sparks movie?”  
     “Noooo.” Scott whines.  
     “What if we had a picnic on the commons?” Allison suggests.  
     “What if we went bowling?” Danny suggests.  
     “What if I didn’t go?” Stiles tries to slip in. Unfortunately no one else had any ideas and he was left with everyone quietly staring at him, waiting for Lydia to tell him off for trying to skip out on their first ever bi-monthly friend day.  
     “Told you.” Scott says in response to the blank look Stiles had been receiving from Lydia.  
     “What is so important that you would try and skip hanging out with your best friends?” Lydia asks Stiles.  
     “He thinks that Derek won’t be friends with him anymore if he doesn’t go to his game.” Scott informs her.  
     “What game?” Allison asks  
     “Derek and Isaac are on the quidditch team and we were invited to watch it with Erica and Boyd and if we don’t go Derek won’t invite me to anything ever again.” Stiles answers.  
     “We should all go.” Its Danny who provides Stiles with the perfect solution. He can’t believe he didn't think of it himself.  
     “Okay, let’s do it.” Lydia says, taking pity on Stiles.  
     “I’m in, but Jackson has to agree too, it’s only fair.” Allison says.  
     “He’ll do it.” Danny says quickly, taking out his phone to text his best friend. Oh man he he better not ruin this for Stiles. Jackson is going to go if Stiles has to drag him to the field by his stupid perfect hair. “Yup he’s in.” Danny informs the group. Now that it has been decided, Scott and Stiles fill the others in on the details. When the oven timer goes off, Scott carefully takes the tray out and transfers their creation to a serving plate provided by Lydia. The group heads into the living room for the big reveal. Scott sets the plate down and they all take a brownie. This is it. The moment of truth. What Stiles and Scott have been working towards for literally months.  
     “Oh my god these are actually really good.” Lydia says in surprise.  
     Mouths full, the boys look at each other with pure glee on their faces. The ultimate brownies are a success. They all finish what's in their mouths and immediately start freaking out. Scott does a cartwheel in the middle of the room. Stiles takes a lap. Danny fist pumps. All three boys are yelling and cheering. Sitting on the couch, the girls look at each other like they’re wondering how their quaint apartment life became this ruckus, and give Stiles high fives as he runs past them as if he were a rockstar giving love to the crowd on his way to center stage. Stiles then joins Scott on top of the coffee table to take their bow while Danny applauds.


	13. Butt Grabs Are The Life of a Snitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     “I can’t believe I’m going to a quidditch game. He better be hot.” Stiles overhears Jackson say to Danny. They are all milling around Lydia and Allison’s apartment waiting to leave for Derek and Isaac’s game. Which they are going to be late for if they don’t get a move on. He already had four texts from Erica.  
     E: We’re leaving now  
     E: At the field  
     E: We’ve got spots right in the middle on the far side  
     E: Are you on your way?  
     S: We’re leaving any minute now  
     E: Hurry up you’re gonna be late  
     E: And show some school pride  
     Stiles puts his phone away after responding to the barrage of texts.  
     “Erica says we have to show school spirit” Stiles relays.  
     “Our thoughts exactly.” Lydia says as she and Allison descend the stairs holding a box of University paraphernalia between them.  
     “This is all the free stuff we’ve gotten over the years from different events” Allison  
informs them. Lydia and Allison met while working for University event staff, and it seems they kept literally everything.  
     “Everyone take stuff” Lydia says. As the others rummage through the box, Jackson crosses his arms and leans with one foot against the wall in what Stiles can only assume he believes to be a coolTM pose.      “Jackson put these on” Lydia says, holding a wolves t-shirt and hat.  
     “I’m good” Jackson responds with a note of disdain in his voice. Stiles notices that Lydia puts them in her bag, obviously not planning on respecting his wishes. After two more buzzes from his phone, Stiles, sporting a new wolves hat to match his spock foam finger, begins herding his friends towards the door.  
     They make it to the game just as it's about to start and join Erica and Boyd on the sidelines.  
     “Okay, so how much like Harry Potter is this?” Stiles asks.  
     “Its pretty similar,” Erica responds, “all the same positions. See Derek standing by the hoops? Hes got a green headband so he’s the keeper. White means chaser, black beater, yellow seeker. Isaac is the snitch because we’re hosting.”  
     “How is a person the snitch?” Danny asks.  
     “He runs around with a ball attached to his butt and the seekers try and grab it” Erica says. Danny looks like he’s considering a career as a seeker.  
     As the game heats up a chaser from the other team- the Alphas- attempts to score, but is blocked by Derek’s hand swatting the ball out of the air. Their section erupts and Derek glances over at them looking both proud of himself and embarrassed by the cacophony that is his friends. Stiles gives him a thumbs up with his non foam finger hand which earns him a smile in return. Stiles is so glad he came.  
     The game continues and a tall muscular boy on the Wolves side, with Parish 5 written on the back of his jersey, charges the advancing chaser and knocks him to the ground before snatching the quaffle.  
     “I’d tap that” Lydia says.  
     “Not bad, but I’d personally go for the Alpha’s beater.” Jackson is referring to one of the opposing beaters who happen to be both beautiful and identical.  
     “Which one?” Allison asks.  
     “The gay one” Jackson answers, as if that should have been obvious to her. He then proceeds to spend the rest of the game cheering for the other team which gets him a confused look from the beater in question, as Jackson is wearing a wolves t-shirt and hat thanks to Lydia and Erica’s combined powers of persuasion.  
When the game is over, Stiles sees Danny run up to Isaac and the two embrace.  
     “You were so good! I liked how you kept stealing their brooms, that was hilarious.” Danny praises Isaac.  
     Isaac stares at Danny in wonder and says, “I can’t believe you came to see me play.”  
     “Of course I did! I heard you were playing and I couldn’t miss it.”  
     Instead of responding, Isaac just looks at Danny and kisses him. Stiles, while initially shocked by the suddenness, can’t help but be immensely happy for the two of them, he knows how head over heels they were for each other. He’s glad to see they’re finally doing something about it. Feeling inspired, Stiles decides to go and congratulate Derek on his victory.


	14. So...Great Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     “Dude, when you slapped Raeken’s shot out of the air, that was amazing! He couldn’t believe it.” Parish excitedly recaps his favorite game highlights to Derek as if the game didn’t just end two minutes ago.  
     Derek loves how excited his team captain gets when they win so he smiles and nods along. “Yea, it’s always satisfying to stick it to Raeken in particular.”  
     “Hey, great game.” Stiles says from behind Derek.  
     “I know!” Parish exclaims, giving Stiles a high five. “Thanks for the support, your section was killer!”  
     “We’re a very excitable bunch” Stiles responds.  
     “That we are” Lydia says joining their group and giving Parish the once-over. She then looks pointedly at Derek, which confuses him until he realizes she must want him to introduce them.  
     “Oh, Parish this is Lydia.” Derek says, gesturing to his new scary friend.  
     “Jorden. Nice to meet you.” Parish says, shaking Lydia’s hand and holding on to it a bit longer than necessary.  
     Derek isn’t sure how it happens so fast, but Parish and Lydia walk off arm in arm, leaving Derek alone with Stiles.  
     “So… great game.” Stiles says again, awkwardly punching Derek on the arm.  
     “Thanks.” Derek says again, wondering what could cause Stiles to be at a loss for words. He always seems to have something to say, even if it isn’t related to the current topic of discussion.  
     “So...umm... I don’t know if you heard about Lydia and Allison’s party yet, or if you were planning on going or not, but umm do you wanna go with me?” Stiles spoke the words so fast they almost blent together. Derek got the gist and thought it was nice of Stiles to make sure he knew about the party. Now he won’t feel like Erica and Isaac’s plus one.  
     “Yea, Erica told me about it. I’d love to go. But i’ve got a team dinner first. I’ll meet you there though?”  
     “YES, i mean, cool, great.” Stiles coughs, “Sounds good. See you there. Great game.” Stiles starts backing away like Derek is a wild animal he doesn't want to disrupt, but turns around when he trips on a rock and almost falls over.


	15. The prime directive clearly states that Lydia cannot interfere with the development of primitive life forms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     “So I invited Derek to the party.” Stiles blurts out. He had been following Lydia around the main room of her and Allison’s apartment in an effort to seem helpful as she prepares for the impending party.  
     “He was already invited.” Lydia says, picking up a stack of coasters.  
     “Yea but I, like, invited him specifically”  
     “You asked him out?” Lydia asks, maneuvering around Stiles to place three coasters on the table he was standing in front of.  
     “Yes! No! I’m not sure.”  
     “How can you not be sure?”  
     “It was very unclear.”  
     “You're the one who did it.”  
     “Exactly!” Stiles throws his hands up in exasperation. At the look on Lydia’s face he adds, “It ended with him meeting me here”  
     “So not a date”  
Stiles makes a sad noise; Lydia takes pity on him and stops putting out costers to turn around and look at her socially challenged friend properly.  
     “Do you want to go on a date with Derek?”  
     “I don't know maybe?” Stiles’ feelings on the matter are complicated, and he refuses to admit that he might actually like Derek because what if Derek doesn't like him back? He couldn’t stand professing his feelings about someone and seeing the pity in his friends eyes when they inevitably find out that the object of Stile’s affections doesn’t feel the same way. He needs some way to be sure.  
     “Have you guys ever even hung out alone?”  
     “No...” Wow, for someone who may or may not have a crush, Stiles sucks at the whole getting to know you thing.  
     “Well do that first.”  
     “Howwww?”  
     “Watch a movie together. That way you can talk, but you don't have to. Less pressure.”  
     “Ok that's good. Now how do i ask him? Also what movie?”  
     “Stiles I can’t do everything for you.”  
     “It would go a lot smoother if you did.”  
     Lydia shakes her head and hands him a pile of pillows to take upstairs.


	16. Even Garbage People Have Boyfriends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     “Okay, it’s been five minutes, are you guys ready now?” Derek says for the fourth time. Or was it the fifth time. Gods he’s losing count. Derek has been pacing around Erica’s room for the past thirty minutes waiting for his friends to finish getting ready, so they can all go to Lydia and Allison’s party.  
     “Five more minutes and we’ll leave.” Erica says for the fifth or sixth time.  
     “Yea, just five minutes.” Isaac says from the adjoining bathroom.  
     “Oh my god Isaac, how are you still in the bathroom?” Derek says, finally fed up with his friend.  
     “It has the best mirror.” Isaac explains.  
     “Not what I meant.”  
     “Give the kid a break, he’s meeting his first real boyfriend.” Erica says as she puts a red sandal on one foot, and a black boot on the other.  
     “Wait, it's official?” Derek asks, momentarily distracted from his impatience.  
     “Yes Danny asked me at the game and I cannot show up to our first boyfriend thing looking like a mess, he’ll dump me” Isaac whines.  
     “He’s not gonna dump you.” Erica assures him as she walks through the open door to the bathroom.  
     “He will if I look like a garbage person.” Isaac insists.  
     “Well then we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” Erica says edging him out of his position in front of the mirror so she can compare her shoes.  
     “Okay five more minutes. But actually five minutes this time.” Derek says.  
     Five minutes of standing by the door later Derek starts worrying that they’ll never get to the party and Stiles will never personally invite him anywhere again.  
     “Stop freaking out Der.” Erica says, from the floor, zipping up her fifth pair of boots.  
     “I know we’re usually late, but this is a whole new level of late.” Derek says. He looks to Boyd for support and finds him reclining on Erica’s bed reading Percy Jackson, clearly unconcerned with the situation. Derek bangs his head against the wall.


	17. 7 Billion smiles in the World and Yours is my Favorite Br

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV:Stiles

     “It's been an hour he's not coming.” Stiles says sadly to Scott as he stands in the Kitchen doorway surveying the party.  
     “Erica, Boyd, and Isaac aren’t here either they’re probably all just running late.” Scott, ever the optimist, suggests.  
    “Or they collectively decided not to come.”  
     “Why would they do that?”  
    “Because none of them wanted to be the one to tell me that Derek doesn't actually like me.”  
     “How could he not like you bro? Thats impossible.” Scott says giving his friend the most adorable smile. It almost makes Stiles feel better.  
     “Well he's not here so what am i supposed to think?”  
    “Isaac isn't here either and Danny doesn't seem upset.”  
     “That's because they’re actually dating. I don't even know if Derek likes me like that. Besides, he’s playing a drinking game. No one can be sad when their doing that.  
     “Well let's start drinking then.”  
     Scott grabs an entire tray of tequila shots from the kitchen table behind them and the night goes about the way you would expect when Stiles and Scott drink an entire tray of tequila shots. Meaning, Stiles doesn’t remember.


	18. It’s Raining Isaac’s

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Derek, Erica, Isaac, and Boyd finally make it to the party. They let themselves in and are immediately hailed by Danny. He is sitting in a chair with Jackson who looks to be holding court over the living room coffee table, deck of cards in hand. Isaac leads the group over to them and gives his new boyfriend a kiss hello.  
    “Lahey, red or black?” Jackson demands.  
    “What?” Isaac asks as he perches on the arm of the couch next to Danny.  
    “We’re playing greatest game, red or black?”  
    “Uhh red.”  
    Jackson flips over a black card. “Nope. Drink.”  
    The disappointed look on his friend’s face makes Derek laugh.  
    “Red or black Hale?” Jackson challenges.  
    “Black” Derek responds without hesitation.  
    Jackson flips over a red card. “You guys suck at this game.”  
    Isaac laughs in retribution as Derek accepts his punishment drink from Danny. Now invested in destroying both Jackson and Isaac, Derek sits next to Isaac on the couch and is joined by Erica and Boyd. The game continues and Derek starts doing better. Isaac and Boyd however do not have the same luck. Which is made even worse by the fact that Erica and Derek formed and alliance and keep choosing their friends for punishment drinks when they get their guesses correct. By the time the game is over, Isaac has fallen off the couch three times, and Boyd has given up on guessing his cards and simply, takes a drink every time his turn comes up.  
    Over the course of the game Derek had been attempting to subtly scan the room for Stiles. To his disappointment, Derek has so far been unsuccessful in both his search for Stiles and his attempt at subtlety- according to Erica’s wagging eyebrows.  
    Suddenly Derek heard a bang and what sounded like children giggling and stomping up a flight of stairs. Not knowing why, but having a feeling that might be Stiles, Derek goes to get up so he can finally say hello, but is prevented from doing so by Isaac literally falling on top of him.  
    And so Derek is left to wrangle his squirming friend until a strange announcement is made from the dining room. Erica jumps up and runs to the source, whipping out her phone. Derek, intrigued, entrusts Danny with Isaac’s care and gets up to follow her. Not in the habit of deserting is intoxicated friends Derek glances back and sees Isaac smile serenely and curl up in Danny’s arms. No longer worried about leaving, Derek enters the dining room.


	19. Toast is Hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV:Stiles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i started this fic as a prequel to my short story. 19 chapters later here we are. I've got more to write after this (chough stiles and derek finally getting together cough) because it has definitely taken on a life of its own, hope you are all still liking it!

     Sitting around Lydia and Allison’s kitchen table, Scott, Stiles, and the girls attempt to eat breakfast after last night’s party. Isaac attempts to eat with them but is woefully unable to leave the toilet for anything longer than two minutes. Danny dutifully follows him around with a bottle of water.  
     While the girls cheerfully chat about last night. Stiles wonders how they can hear each other over that horrible pounding. He tries to join in on the conversation but becomes distracted by the task of lifting a piece of toast to his mouth. Unable to accomplish this feat, he is left sadly staring at his useless hand. Scott, taking a different approach to the toast conundrum, places his head directly on the table, evidently hoping that closer proximity to the toast will increase his ability to consume it.  
     “Stiles are you having trouble hearing or are you simply choosing not to answer?” Lydia’s voice cuts through the fog in Stiles’ head like an ice pick.  
     “Oww” is all Stiles says in response.  
     “We were wondering when you started watching America’s Next Top Model” Allison supplies.  
     “America’s Next...what?...wait, how do know I watch that?” Stiles asks.  
     “Well we assume that was your inspiration for last night’s big fashion show.” Lydia smirks.  
     “Stiles put on a fashion show last night?” asks Scott, voice muffled from his position on the table.  
     “Oh honey” Allison says, patting his shoulder gently.  
     “Do not tell me you have no memory of last night.” Lydia says.  
     “It’s all a blur” Stiles says.  
     “Why does my side hurt so much?” Scott complains.  
     “Alison sits up straight in her chair, excited to fill them in. “Well,” she begins, “late last night the two of you ran upstairs giggling, and apparently you got into Lydia’s closet-”  
     “-Which you will be paying for some time in the future” Lydia interjects darkly.  
     “And a few minutes later,” Alison continues, “the two of you came downstairs all dressed up-”  
     “-coats, hats, handbags, scarves…” Lydia lists off.  
     “And announce the premier of your new clothing line Sciles.” Alison punctuates the name with a grand hand gesture. “So naturally Stiles jumps on the dining room table to begin the fashion show.”  
     “And when Scott went to join him, I said the dining table was not a catwalk, to which Scott responded, ‘Tyra Banks taught me everything I know’” Lydia added with her best Scott impression.  
     “Oh my god, tell me you’re making this up.” Stiles moans, while Scott tries to hide his face under his uneaten toast.  
     “Oh no my friend” Alison says. “The two of you each made one pass down the table before complaining that the photographers were not standing in the proper place. Naturally Erica stepped in and the two of you ran to the end of the table to begin striking as many poses as you could. Then Scott shoved in front of Stiles so Erica could get more shots of him; and in retaliation, Stiles pushed Scott right off the table and yelled, ‘It’s not called America’s Next Top Best Friend!’ and continued to pose for the camera until Lydia demanded Derek lift him off the table.”  
     “Dude how could you do that to me?” Scott asks his friend.  
     “Wait, Derek was there?” Stiles asks Allison.  
     As the boys continue to hound Alison with questions, Lydia, noticing Erica and Boyd in the doorway, gestures for them to join the table and asks how they’re both feeling. Erica says she is feeling great. Boyd, standing in his girlfriend’s shadow, says nothing and slowly walks toward the toaster as Erica takes Isaac’s recently vacated seat and starts in on his food.  
     “Are you talking about the fashion show? I have so many pictures.” Erica holds up her phone so the girls can crowd around it. After a particularly loud cackle from the group Stiles begins regretting the day he introduced Erica and Lydia.  
     “I hate that you guys are friends now” he moans.  
     “You love it” Erica responds -okay he does- “and Vernon dear your anger alone cannot toast the bread.” Stiles turns around and sees Boyd standing in front of the toaster. The machine had bread in it, but he had neglected to push the button that would start the toasting.  
     Stiles, feeling he can relate to Boyd’s struggle, says quietly, “toast is hard.”


	20. It Was a Hashtag Look

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     It took two hours and three bottles of water, but the pounding in Stiles’ head has finally stopped and he is no longer worried that he is going to have to fight Isaac for quick access to the toilet. Stiles uses his newfound energy to finally take stock of his surroundings. He is still at Lydia and Allison’s apartment since they had invited the whole group to stay the night so they could hang out in the afternoon. Hangover brunch they had called it. Looking around, Stiles thinks that Lydia and Allison’s kitchen has seen better days. Half full glasses and empty bottles litter the counter tops, along with Erica who is sitting on the only clear spot with her legs crossed talking to Lydia. Erica had given her spot at the table to her boyfriend who had clearly needed it more. Next to him sits Allison with Scott’s head buried on her shoulder. Isaac and Danny had managed to reclaim their seats at the table. Isaac still isn’t able to stomach anything, but he has managed to make it a record of fifteen minutes outside of the bathroom.  
     Lydia seemed to notice the uptick of energy in the room as well and calls them to order, “So, now that everyone seems to have recovered for the most part, how about we get to cleaning up this mess?”  
     “So that's why you invited us to stay over.” Erica says.  
     “I thought you just liked us” Danny says feigning betrayal.  
     “I’ll like you after this mess is gone.” Lydia says sternly.  
     Despite Scott’s whining when Allison gently pushes him off her shoulder, the group willingly gets up to pitch in. With everyone working together, the kitchen is pristine in no time. Lydia’s personal cleaning crew sans Danny and Isaac move to begin cleaning the rest of the main floor, but pretty soon they end up sitting on the couches in the living room dissecting the previous night's events.  
     “I’m afraid to ask, but tell me again what exactly I was wearing last night?” Stiles asks the group at large.  
     “Oh for the big show?” Allison asks.  
Stiles nods.  
     “You two were serving looks.” Erica says, emphasizing the last two words. She then gets out her phone to show Stiles and Scott their outfits because “no amount of words can properly describe the perfection that was last night.”  
     Joining them in the living room with Isaac, Danny surveys the group and asks, “Did Jackson leave already?”  
     “He’s still sleeping in my room.” Lydia informs him.  
     “What a lazy asshole.” Stiles comments, leaning over Erica’s shoulder.  
     “Fuck you Stilinski” Jackson’s voice comes from the top of the stairs behind Stiles, who simply sticks his middle finger over his head goodnaturedly and continues the conversation as if there was no interruption.  
     “Please tell me I didn’t do anything else embarrassing last night?”  
     “You’ll have to ask Derek he was with you after the modeling fiasco.” Lydia says. Stiles gets a jolt of nerves. He really hopes he didn’t say anything to Derek that he’ll regret. Stiles is still kicking himself for not remembering interacting with Derek last night.  
     “Where is Derek anyway?” Scott asks. Yes, maybe Derek is still upstairs, he can talk to him, explain his blackout, and clear up any weirdness right away.  
     “He has an appointment with his advisor so he had to go back to the room to shower” Boyd informs him. Fuck Stiles’ life.  
     Stiles tries to hide his disappointment by looking down at his phone. To his surprise he sees a text from Derek, which is confusing because Stiles doesn’t have Derek’s number.  
     D: Apparently we exchanged numbers last night.  
     Okay well at least Derek is still talking to him, Stiles points out to himself. Maybe it wasn’t so bad.  
     S: oh gez more things I don’t remember. Please tell me I didnt make a complete fool of myself  
     D: lol. No you’re good. We just talked a bit, before you passed out.  
     S: what did we talk about?  
     D: You asked if i liked movies, and i think we made drunk plans to watch Thor together.  
     S: good movie.  
     D: I've never seen it.  
     S: what?? I thought you said you saw the Avengers?  
     D: I did...  
     S: you SKIPPED THor? That's blasphemy!  
     D: That's what you said last night.  
     S: well drunk Stiles was right!  
     D: I guess we’re watching Thor then?  
     S: you bet your ass we are!  
     Stiles whips his head up, abruptly realizing that he just made movie plans with Derek. Shit, he actually followed through on Lydia’s plan. Does this mean he’s living his life correctly? Weird. Stiles shakes his head to clear the thought and looks over at Lydia who is raising an eyebrow at him. He tries to smile at her but he thinks it comes out more like a grimmance. Stiles makes a mental note to pester her to prepare him for the movie night he is apparently having with Derek in the near future. Stiles tries to toon back in to the conversation that's happening around him but all he can hear is a chorus of movie night with Derek movie night with Derek MOVIE NIGHT WITH DEREK.


	21. MOVIE NIGHT WITH DEREK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     On Thursday night, Derek finds himself istanding outside of Stiles’ dorm building wearing a maroon sweater that Erica picked out for him last night. He texted Stiles and is now waiting to be let in. Derek objectively understands that watching Thor alone with Stiles shouldn’t be a big deal, but he can’t seem to get past the _alone with Stiles_ part. Derek was not initially convinced that their drunk Thor plans would actually ever happen so he was excited when they confirmed a day. But now with his stomach in knots and his hands nervously clenched around a bag of microwave popcorn he can hardly remember that feeling.  
     Just as Derek is deciding if he wants to throw up in the trash bin to his right, the doors in front of him slam open and Stiles stumbles outside.  
     “Derek!” Stiles yells, hanging on to the open door with both hands.  
     “Stiles.”  
     “You made it!”  
     “I did.” -Derek is nothing if not an excellent conversationalist.  
     “Well come on in.” Stiles lets go of the door with one hand so that he can wave Derek inside like he’s a plane on the runway.  
     “So how’ve you been?” Stiles says following Derek inside.  
     Still thinking about the trash can outside, Derek isn’t sure a true assessment of his feelings are appropriate. Remembering the last time Stiles asked him that question Derek just barely stops himself from blurting out ‘I brought popcorn’ and ends up loudly saying, “good” while waving the bag of popcorn at Stiles.  
     “Ooo you brought popcorn.” Stiles says pointing at the bag that is little too close to his face. “I’m so glad you brought it because I just found out that Scott ate our last bag and I was literally about to kill him.” Stiles continues as he moves towards the elevator bank and stairwell. “Because seriously what is a movie without popcorn? I mean he knew we were having movie night and he still ate it. Don’t get me wrong I love the guy, but he eats _so much_. -oh, is it ok if we take the stairs?” Stiles cuts himself off to look at Derek who has already followed him up to the first landing in the stairwell.  
     It takes Derek a minute to realize that it’s his turn to talk. When he does, he says, “uhh yea” and continues following Stiles up the stairs who has since resumed his ramblings.  
     “-so then Scott and I made a bet as to who could avoid elevators the longest and I know that he’s gonna cave soon, because his biology lab is on the fifth floor and he is always tired on Tuesdays...”  
     As Derek follows Stiles up what seems to be a never ending stairway, listening to the full play-by-play of Scott and Stiles’ elevator bet, he feels his nerves begin to wash away. By the time they arrive at a door marked with pokemon that say Stiles and Scott on them, Derek is feeling almost normal.  
     Stiles opens the door with a flourish and spreads his arms wide. “The optimal viewing setup has been achieved.”  
     Derek looks around the small room. He first notices two beds separated by a window with the curtains drawn. The only source of light is emanating from a lamp on the bedside table to the left. The night table on the right holds two cups of what looks like coke and a large empty bowl. Both beds are pointing at a TV positioned precariously on top of two stacked boxes. The TV (attached to a laptop via a slightly beat up cable) is already showing the title screen of what Derek assumes is the movie he is here to watch.  
     “Impressive.” Derek says, with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Must have taken you all day.”  
     “Judge all you want, but when we’re watching the movie with no glare and easily accessible refreshments you’ll thank me.”  
     Derek holds up his hands in mock surrender.  
     “Alrighty, pop that in the fridgerwave and get comfy.” Stiles says, gesturing towards the microwave popcorn in Derek’s hand.  
     Derek raises his eyebrows at ‘fridgerwave’ but does as he's told, selecting the popcorn setting on the University approved electricity saving microwave-refrigerator appliance.  
     “Dude, I am so excited for you to see this movie. Like, Loki was super cool in the Avengers, but you don’t really know him until you’ve seen his back story.” Stiles says.  
     Derek looks over and sees Stiles bouncing on the balls of his feet with a wide hopeful smile on his face.  
     “How many times have you seen this movie?” Derek asks, suspicions growing.  
     “A normal amount” Stiles says defensively.  
     “Normal for you or normal for everyone else?”  
     “I only went to see it 3 times.”  
     “And how many times have you seen it on dvd?”  
     “It's a good movie Derek!”  
     Derek’s interrogation is halted when the microwave beeps to signal the popcorn is ready.  
     “Oh look the popcorn is done, guess we have to stop talking about this and watch the movie. Go on, get on the bed.”  
     Derek hops on the bed and settles himself against the wall with his back to the headboard. All the while looking at Stiles inquisitively as he avoids eye contact by staring intently at the popcorn he is pouring into the bowl on the table. Derek shakes his head and files this bit of information away for future use.  
     Stiles disgards the now empty popcorn bag, clicks play on the computer and launches himself onto the bed. Landing right next to Derek. He squirms around a little and Derek is surprised when, instead of moving away, Stiles settles in close to Derek, mirroring his seated position. The movie begins to play but Derek is unable to fully focus on it, having become hyper aware of the part of his arm that is pressed up against Stiles’. He tries to sit absolutely still so as not to disrupt whatever is causing this.  
     Derek eventually settles into the movie. Stiles stays quiet and unmoving next to him, having evidently decided that the optimal viewing experience does not include extraneous talking or movement. Derek is pleased with the fact that he feels so comfortable. He has always been a big fan of companionable silence, but he wasn’t exactly sure that Stiles would share that particular opinion.  
     The credits roll and Derek keeps his eyes on the screen, knowing another scene will be popping up soon. He feels the bed shaking slightly and slowly looks to his right. Stiles is staring at him with a big expectant grin on his face and is bouncing in his seat, unable to contain his energy.  
     “So…??? What did you think?” Stiles asks.  
     “I thought it was good.”  
     “Good? Just good?”  
     “Well, I enjoyed the warriors three. I thought the part in the pet shop was funny-”  
     “Wasn’t Loki great?!” Stiles bursts out  
     “Yea he was okay. I don’t see what the big appeal is though.”  
     Stiles gasps dramatically and Derek has to force himself not to laugh at the look on his face. Stiles looks like around 800 different thoughts are about to burst out of him and the only thing stopping them is that he can't decide which should come out first. Just as Stiles opens his mouth a scene begins to play. Derek thinks it might actually be physically paining him to shut his mouth. Loki is featured in the scene and says, “well I guess that's worth a look” and okay Derek has to admit that was pretty cool.  
     “Okay now I see it.”  
     “HA! I told you!” Stiles pumps his fist in the air and knocks the -thankfully empty- popcorn bowl in to Derek’s lap.  
     “You did.” Derek tries appeasing Stiles in an attempt to avoid having anything else knocked on his lap. Namely the unfinished drink still in his hand.  
     “Oh my gods you are so lucky you don’t even know. I was literally about to go into a prepared 30 minute presentation with at least 12 visuals.”  
     “Thats a lot of visuals.”  
     “There could be more!”  
     “More than 12?” Derek says raising his eyebrows.  
     “Anytime Loki is on screen is proof that Tom Hiddleston is an amazing actor and Loki is a complex and interesting character who cannot be written off as a mear simple villain.” Stiles responds all in one breath.  
     Derek can’t help but smile at Stiles’ passion. He finds how dedicated Stiles is to this one particular character endearing. Not to mention it makes him feel better knowing that Stiles will get it when he geeks out about Harry Potter. So Derek lets Stiles tell him more about the movie they just watched, asking questions here and there, and throwing in his opinion when it seems appropriate.  
     Its nice; and it's easy, which is a new experience for Derek. He’s never been good at talking to people, let alone people that are relatively new to him. But tonight with Stiles, it just flows. Derek finds himself not worrying about what to say next, but just living in the conversation. It's a really good change and Derek hopes there will be more movie nights in their future. He plans to make sure that happens, and maybe something more. But he’ll take the win right now and worry about the rest later.


	22. Everything Is a Team Based Challenge If You’re Competitive Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     The next night Derek is in Allison’s living room playing gamecube with her, Erica, Danny, and Scott. Scott suggested they play while they wait for the rest of their group to get done with various classes and clubs before “the Friday night shenanigans can officially begin.” Derek questions whether the shenanigans have already begun as he watches Scott hang upside down on the couch whilst seriously debating the merits of Mario Party 5 against that of Mario Party 7 with Danny.  
     Derek finishes his turn on the virtual game board and looks back over at Scott, who is now using his left hand for the controller and his right to position a cup of soda under his head so that he can presumably drink from the straw in his current suspended position.  
     “You’re going to choke” Derek warns. Scott’s only response is to shout “Peristalsis!” and defiantly take a sip from the straw. Derek rolls his eyes as Scott clearly struggles to hold back a coughing fit.  
     “So Derek, what did you think of Thor?” Allison asks.  
     “It was good.” Derek says, turning his gaze from Scott.  
     “You guys watched Thor?!” Erica interjects.  
     “Yup.” Derek says, avoiding eye contact with his friend. She had been trying to get him to watch it with her for a long time- which is why he didn’t tell her that that was the movie he and Stiles had intended on watching last night.  
     “You should have started dating Stiles years ago.” Erica says, sounding only slightly bitter.  
     “We’re not dating!” Derek quickly corrects her. Derek cannot believe that she would say something like that in front of Stiles’ best friends. What if it gets back to him that she said that? What if they tell him that Derek thinks Stiles is his boyfriend! Maybe he wants to be, but he doesn’t think he already is. Oh this is so embarrassing.  
     “Who’s your favorite character?” Allison asks, steering the conversation back on a not embarrassing for Derek track-did he mention she’s his favorite.  
     “I actually really liked Loki.” Derek says.  
     “Did Stiles tell you to say that?” Scott asks.  
     “Did he make you listen to the presentation?” Allison adds.  
     “He seriously forces people to watch that?” Derek can’t believe that anyone who didn’t appreciate Loki would find that enjoyable.  
     “I had to sit through 8 visual exhibits that proved why Loki is a complex character that deserves our interest.” Scott lamments.  
     “I heard he's up to 10 exhibits now.” Danny chimes in.  
     “12 actually.” Derek corrects, causing the group to look at him in mild horror.  
     “Wait how do you know its 12, I thought he only showed it to people he's trying to browbeat into agreeing with him?” Scott asks, looking like he's having painful flashbacks.  
     “I let him show me anyway. He seemed really excited about it.” Derek admits bashfully. He sees Erica give Allison a significant look and pretends not to notice.  
     They continue their game and as the night goes on the rest of the group trickles in. By 9 o’clock Derek finds himself sharing a couch with Allison, Lydia, and Scott. Sitting across from them on the smaller couch is Jackson, Danny, and Isaac. Erica and Boyd share the armchair and Stiles, claiming he felt left out, has perched himself on the arm of Derek’s couch- Derek is not at all reading into the fact that Stiles chose to sit on his side rather than Scott’s.  
     With 4 controllers and 10 friends, the group decides to split into teams and rotate the loser out every round. Allison claims Derek as her partner because “He won’t scream if they lose.” Already sitting in his lap, Erica takes Boyd as her partner. Looking miffed that all the people around him have partnered up, Stiles opens his mouth to say something but stops in shock when Lydia says,  
     “I’ll partner with Scott then.”  
     After a few seconds of sputtering Stiles yells, “No you can’t take Scott he’s my partner!”  
     “I’m already sitting next to him suck it up Stiles.” Lydia says reaching for a controller. Jackson starts laughing at Stiles, but cuts himself off abruptly when Lydia continues, saying to Stiles, “You can partner with Jackson.”  
     Derek almost starts laughing himself at the look of utter betrayal that falls over Jackson’s face as he turns around to see Danny and Isaac already cuddled up together with a controller between them. He then turns back around and glares at Stiles, who glares right back. Neither of them are willing to get up and join the other, which is how they end up on the floor in front of the coffee table, bickering over who gets to go first.  
     The group as a whole seems to come to an unspoken agreement to ignore them, and they settle on Super Smash Switch. Derek learns that this is a game invented by Scott and Stiles-who seem to love making everything into a team based competition. Danny explains that the game begins with one partner in control of their character. Anyone can yell switch at any point and when that happens all teams must switch who is holding the controller.  
     Derek and Allison end up making a really great team, deftly tossing the controller between them the second anyone says switch. Derek was worried that, having never played smash before, he would be at a disadvantage, but Allison coaches him through his match ups using what sounds to Derek like actual battle tactics. That combined with Derek’s random button mashing works out to be an excellent defence against most of his friends. Except Lydia. Derek sees her coming for him and immediately yells switch. Breathing a sigh of relief he looks down just in time to watch a blue controller smack right into the side of Jackson’s face.  
     “WHAT THE HELL STILINSKI?” Jackson yells.  
     Feigning innocence, Stiles responds, “Derek said switch. I thought you would catch it.”  
     Derek snorts and Stiles turns around to give him a shit eating grin. Then, apparently content to watch Jackson finish the game for them with no further interference, Stiles sits back and settles himself against Derek's legs. He will never admit it out loud, but Derek finds that he is quite pleased to be Stiles’ backboard of choice. He smiles, looking down at the head of tousled brown hair beneath him, and fights the random urge to run his fingers through it. Derek is pulled from his thoughts when Danny suggests they play a new game.  
     Erica demands “Blind Mario Kart!”  
     As Boyd explains that the game consists of one person steering the car with their eyes closed while being given directions by their sighted partner, Derek shares an eye roll with Isaac. They both know from experience that Erica only proposed the game because her and Boyd are unnaturally good at it. Derek however, is awful. The only perk of dying immediately and often is that while sitting out he gets to put his full attention on Stiles and Jackson whose bickering has only gotten more heated.  
     “My controller is shaking Stilinski, you better not have lead me off a cliff!” Derek notes that Jackson’s infuritation is much funnier now that he’s yelling with his eyes closed.  
     “I said left you blithering idiot!” Stiles counters. “Do you have a HEARING PROBLEM?”  
     “Give better directions moron!”  
     Stiles huffs and settles back into Derek’s legs, having leaned forward to yell in Jackson’s ear. Derek is surprised that Stiles ‘restless energy’ Stilinski has managed to sit comfortably in one position for so long. He does not at all take it as a personal triumph that said position has been against him, and Derek definitely has not had to pee for the past ten minutes.  
     “Do the thing!” Stiles suddenly yells at Jackson.  
     “What thing?”  
     “Now fucko!”  
     “Use complete sentences shit stain!”  
     “Use your weapon!” Stiles flaps his hands at the TV as if Jackson should be able to see that he has a weapon to get rid of. “You threw it forwards?!”  
     “They always go forwards!”  
     “Not bananas!”  
     Jackson responds with only incoherent yelling.  
     “Oh my gods you fell again!”  
     The yelling gets louder and more incoherent.


	23. Ears and Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Two days later Derek is in Erica’s room for a study date. Neither of them really felt like doing work, but since its Sunday they thought they would try and motivate each other. That plan was apparently not well thought out as they are both sitting on Erica’s bed texting.  
     S: Is it play it by ear or year?  
     D: Ear.  
     S: That makes no sense  
     D: And year does?  
     S: blerg  
     Derek chuckles when he sees the last text.  
     “Who ya talkin’ to?” Erica prys.  
     “No one.” Derek says tilting his phone so she can’t see the screen.  
     “Is it Stiles?”  
     “Maybe.”  
     “Aww.” Erica coos, putting a hand to her chest.  
     “Oh stop it, he was just asking me a question.” Derek, feeling suddenly nervous, attempts to sink further into the pillow behind his back.  
     Cause he liiikes you.” Erica says leaning in and fluttering her eyelashes at him.  
     No. We're just kinda friends now I guess.  
      _More_ than friends.”  
      “Nope. No. Definitely not that.”  
     “Mm okay.”  
     “Stap.”  
     Erica sits back in her seat cackling and looks at her own phone. Derek makes a show of putting his down and leafing through the textbook that has been open in his lap for the past half hour.  
     “Yea yea, we both know you’re not actually reading that.” Erica waves her hand dismissively.  
     “I am, and you should be reading yours.” Derek reaches over, picking up and opening his friend’s book which had fallen into the crevice of the bed, abandoned before Derek had even arrived.  
     “My mind is simply wants to focus on something else today. Like yours wants to focus on some _one_ else.”  
     “I’m only thinking about Stiles because you keep bring him up.”  
     “So you are thinking about him!” Erica drops her phone between them so she can dramatically slap her hands on the book in front of her.  
     “Because you keep bring him up!” Derek decides to match her level of drama by slapping a hand on his own book.  
     “Are you ever going to ask him on a proper date? Or just keep telling him you haven’t seen another one of his favorite movies?”  
     “Are you ever going to let that go?” Derek knew seeing Thor without Erica was dangerous, she can hold grudges like no one he’s ever seen.  
     “Maybe I will if you finally admit that you want to date Stiles.”  
     “I can’t admit to something if it isn’t true.” Derek knows a trap when he hears one.  
     “Deerreek” Erica whines.  
     “Ericaaa” Derek responds mimicking her tone.  
     “Derek.” Erica says more seriously, giving him her patented evil eye.  
     “Okay fine I like him!” Derek finally admits under the pressure of her relentless glare.  
     “I knew it!” Erica excitedly grabs her phone which Derek immediately slaps out of her hand. Erica gasps like he slapped her.  
     “You can't tell anyone.” Derek begs, heart pounding in his chest.  
     “I can not believe you did that!” Erica says, seemingly still in shock.  
     “I’m vulnerable!” Derek says meekly, slowly inching away from his scary friend, now realizing his mistake.  
     Derek ends up with his books on the floor and half a bowl of goldfish dumped in his lap to replace them. He got off easy.


	24. One Whole Email

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     Stiles refreshes his email for the tenth time in two minutes. Nothing changes and Stiles sighs, not knowing what he expected. He has been working as an assistant at the achievement center since the beginning of the semester, and there is seldom any work for him to actually achieve. Initially Stiles thought he would love getting paid to do nothing, but he actually feels a bit guilty, plus its incredibly boring. He mans the front office by himself and his job is basically to schedule appointments and to wait for calls and emails from his bosses asking him to do projects- they rarely ask him to do projects. Stiles looks at the clock, sees it only says 2:00pm, and groans. He picks up his phone, not even pretending to try and hide it.  
  
     S: Nothing to do and 3hrs left to do it  
     D: They really keep you busy over there, don’t they?  
     S: I live in constant fear they’re gonna realize i'm not actually needed  
     D: But who will sit in your chair?  
     S: No one  
     S: They can sell it  
     S: They’ll be making money  
     D: Well then, you’re screwed.  
     S: :’(  
     D: Grab something on your way out.  
  
     Stiles looks up from his phone as he receives his first email of the day. Derek was wrong he is useful. Besides there’s nothing good here to steal. Stiles opens the email and lets his head fall to the desk when he sees its just a solicitor.  
     “Napping on the job? That’s bold, even for you.” Stiles turns his head to see that Allison has come to rescue him from boredom, because she’s a good friend, unlike other people he knows who just laugh at his pain.  
     “I might as well there’s nothing for me to do here.” Stiles says, still refusing to lift his face from the desk.  
     “Aww” Allison gently pats Stiles’ hair and places a tupperware of cookies in his narrow line of sight.  
     Stiles sits up and gasps. “Are these cookies for me?”  
     “Yup, made ‘em this morning.” Stiles’ stomach rumbles at the sight of them, reminding him that he skipped lunch today.  
     “I literally love you.” Stiles says, not hesitating to rip off the lid and dig in.  
     “I know.” Allison says casually flipping her hair behind one shoulder.  
     “Soowwasyrday?” Stiles garbles while chewing the two cookies he just shoved in his mouth. Allison wrinkles her nose at this, but having known Stiles so long she is- unfortunately for her- still able to understand him. “Pretty good, got most of my work done yesterday so i’ve been making the most of my free time.”  
     “Well,” Stiles says, holding up another cookie, “you made the most of these they are amazing.”  
     “Speaking of amazing, hows Derek?” Allison says, casually looking down and grabbing a cookie for herself.  
     “Good…” Stiles says, narrowing his eyes at the weird transition.  
     “So are you guys, like, dating?” Damit, Stiles knew these cookies were too good to be true. And here he thought Allison was just being a good friend. Stiles would stop eating the distraction cookies out of principle but they really are very good.  
     “We are not dating.” Stiles says moodily crunching on his fifth cookie, tasting deceit in the chocolate chips.  
     “Okay so when will you be officially asking him out?” Allison says, clearly restraining herself from rolling her eyes at him.  
     Stiles considers protesting that he doesn’t want to date Derek, but decides that it will probably be a waste of his energy. His friends just know him too well.  
     “Never, because its way too scary, and the last time I thought about asking him out he didn’t get it and it was confusing and not even a date. So yea no thanks, not doing that again.” Stiles shudders remembering his blunder on the Quidditch pitch and Lydia subsequently telling him that he needs to be more specific.  
     “Well,” Allison says, giving Stiles a warm knowing smile, “I was so scared the day I asked Scott to go bowling with Lydia, Jackson, and I. I thought he would think double dates were weird, or that it wasn’t even a date, or a whole host of other things. I almost didn’t even do it. But Lydia pushed me, and it turns out that that was one of the best decisions I’ve made at University.”  
     “But it was so obvious that Scott was basically already in love with you.” Stiles remembers his friend being virtually unable to talk about anything other than his now girlfriend of two years.  
     “Not to me.”  
     “Seriously?” When Allison nods, Stiles finally gives in. He puts his head back down, and asks the desk, voice slightly muffled, “But what would I invite him to do that could be double datey?”  
     “Hmm..” Stiles has the sneaking suspicion that Allison is only pretending to contemplate the question. “Well Lydia and I were thinking of getting everyone to go ice skating this weekend. Lydia is going to ask Parrish to join, so Jackson will probably ask Ethan. Everyone will be all coupled up?”  
     Stiles lifts his head a little. “Yea I guess that's a good idea...” Either Stiles is getting a stomach ache from eating ten cookies in three minutes, or this is getting too real and he’s freaking out.  
     “Okay so ask Derek before we tell everyone else so he knows that it's your idea.”  
     “But it’s your idea.”  
     “Semantics.” Allison says taking out her phone. Probably to inform Lydia or Erica that their plan worked, Stiles guesses. Uggh, why are his friends are so devious about being helpful?


	25. And the World Zoomed In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     Stiles has been pacing his room for the past ten minutes trying to work out all of his nervous energy, pausing every now and then to double check his Lydia approved outfit in the mirror hanging on his dorm room door. Tonight is the night of his rediculous sextuple date with Derek and the entire rest of their friend group. Asking Derek turned out to be not as bad as he imagined. Stiles actually explained everything properly and Derek got the message. Stiles thinks he even saw Derek blush slightly when he agreed to the date. Stiles smiles fondly at the recent memory and jumps when his phone buzzes.  
     Stiles opens the text from Derek saying that he’s outside, takes a deep breath, glances once more in the mirror, smooths his shirt, and heads downstairs. Stiles had told Derek to stop at his dorm on the way to the ice rink. Apparently Erica insisted that Boyd meet her at her room before they rendezvous with the group so Stiles sent Scott off to Allison's ahead of time ensuring he and Derek could be alone.  
     Stiles’ nerves spike as he steps out the exit and sees Derek standing outside with his hands clenched at his sides. Stiles gives him what he hopes -but can’t be sure- is a small smile. Derek smiles back -did Stiles mention how cute Derek is?- and they share a hug which is only slightly awkward.  
     “Hey.” Stiles says, stuffing his hands in his pockets to preemptively stop them from doing something stupid.  
     “Hi.” Derek responds, ducking his head as they start towards the rink. They walk in silence for one excruciating minute before Derek turns his head to Stiles and says, “Okay so I have to admit, im terrible at ice skating.”  
     “Oh no really?” Stiles says, wondering if Derek is going to have a terrible time tonight, or if Stiles can use this as an excuse to hold his hand while they’re on the ice later.  
     “Yea I only ever go when my sisters drag me to the rink over break and just crawl around the perimeter as they lap me a dozen times and laugh in my face.”  
     “And yet you still go?”  
     “It's become something of a family tradition.”  
     “Do they keep score on how many times they lap you?”  
     Derek looks at him funny and for a second Stiles is afraid he said something wrong but then Derek says in a surprised tone of voice. “That's exactly what they do.” Stiles laughs, picturing the scene. “How could you possibly know that?”  
     Stiles admits, “That is totally something me and Scott would do to our parents.”  
     They continue on, trading a few more stories about their families, talking and laughing all the way to the rink. Before they know it they’re entering the building and being flagged down by Isaac who is standing online for skates with Jackson, Ethan, Scott, Erica, and Boyd. Erica gives Stiles a head nod that makes him suspicious as he slides next to her, but she thankfully says nothing and continues to chat amicably with Ethan and Boyd.  
     Scott waves Lydia and Parish over when they walk in. However only Parish joins them on line w hile Lydia, who- of course- brought her own skates, joins Allison and Danny who are lacing up their own personal skates on a nearby bench.  
     After renting his skates Stiles sits down next to Derek on the bench their group claimed, quickly ties his laces, and watches as Derek slowly and meticulously does the same, pulling the laces tight after every cross. For some reason Stiles finds it adorable that he takes such care with it. Even though Derek doesn't particularly enjoy ice skating, he's going to do it right.  
     “Isaac, tie your skates tighter, you’re going to twist an ankle.” Stiles looks up at the sound of Lydia’s voice and sees Isaac standing in front of him, wobbling precariously while attempting to make a bow with his mostly untied laces.  
     “I know what I’m about son.” Isaac proclaims without looking up, intent on his task.  
     Lydia sighs dramatically as Danny kneels down, bats his boyfriends protesting hands away, and properly ties his skates for him. Apparently the rest of them pass inspection and Lydia leads them over to the ice. Stiles, sensing Derek might want to go on last, hangs towards the back of the group with him. As expected, everyone pairs off the second they hit the ice. Lydia immediately starts hitting tricks, lunging with her leg held behind her at a perfect ninety degree angle to the ice. Parish, skating next to her, looks on in awe. Stiles and Derek step up to the entrance and Stiles sees Derek grimmance as he puts one foot up.  
     “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you fall.” Sties winks and steps onto the ice just as Isaac and Danny skate by holding hands and looking adoringly into each other's eyes. Stiles wonders if they’ll ever leave the honeymoon phase of their relationship.  
     True to his word, Derek is extremely slow, however he is surprisingly steady, which absolutely ruins Stiles’ plan to offer to hold Derek’s hand _‘for balance.’_ Instead, Stiles decides to challenge himself by skating backwards- which he is very capable of doing no matter what Scott says okay.  
     After one lap Stiles almost runs into four people, actually hits two, and bumps against the wall three times. Stiles is happy to see that Derek is amused by his antics but Derek’s snicker at the angry look Stiles is receiving from the guy that he _gently brushed in passing_ causes him so defend himself.  
     “Hey, you’re supposed to be directing me you know.”  
     “Oh am I?” Derek asks, raising an eyebrow.  
     “Yes, and I have to be honest, you’re not doing a very good job.”  
     “Well I’ll have to change that.” Derek says, indulging him. “Okay, we’re coming up on someone, go a little to the right.” Stiles begins moving. “Shit, _your_ left.” Stiles quickly switches directions and manages to only catch the girl with his flailing arm.  
     “Sorry!” Stiles waves the offending arm in her direction, then makes a disapproving face at Derek. “Wow.”  
     After they get the hang of it, Stiles starts talking about ice skating, school, and whatever else comes to mind. The conversation flows around Derek’s quick directional interjections, and almost an hour passes in their little bubble.  
     “Okay now left.” Derek says, “More left. Keep going.”  
     “Are you sure?” Stiles could have sworn he saw someone in his peripheral vision.  
     “Just a little more.”  
     Stiles collides with a body directly behind him. Confused that Derek’s specific directions lead him wrong, Stiles spins around to apologize for the body slam and sees a familiar disgruntled face.  
     “Ahh Stiles!” Scott complains. Stiles whips his head back to Derek who is unable to contain his laughter.  
     “Oh, ah-ha _so_ funny” Stiles’ voice drips with sarcasm.  
     “It is.” Allison says gigiling and giving Derek a fist bump.  
     Stiles and Scott share a look and silently decide to let the joke slide if it means their significant others are getting along this well. Normally they wouldn’t, but Stiles and Scott have _plans_ okay. And they’re only going to be able to spend their lives together if their current and potential significant others like each other. Allison and Derek laughing together is the dream, and Stiles can’t help but smile as he watches them.  
     “Dude, why do you keep skating backwards? You know you’re terrible at it.” Scott complains finally detangling himself from Stiles.  
     “I am not! What are you even doing hanging around in the corner anyway?” Stiles says defensively.  
     “Allison has been teaching me to spin, and unlike you, I am actually good at it. Right hon?” Scott says loftily.  
     “You've really been improving sweatie!” Allison gives her boyfriend a hug while mouthing over his shoulder to Derek and Stiles ‘No he hasn’t.’  
     Allison continues teaching Scott the art of twirling, who only ever ends up skating around in small circles. Stiles watches Allison demonstright and then smile with love in her eyes as Scott tries and fails to copy her. Stiles finds himself leaning close to Derek, having become caught up in watching how endearing his two friends are.  
     Stiles is pulled from his trance when Jackson skates by and yells “Hot chocolate!” without bothering to pause or explain. A quick survey of the rink shows the rest of their friends filtering towards the exit. Assuming the the group has decided to take a break for hot chocolate, Stiles, Derek, Scott, and Allison slowly make their way to the cafe. Stiles notes that Derek looks incredibly relieved to be on solid ground again and sends him off to grab a table with Allison, Danny, Parish, Ethan, and Erica.  
     The rest of the group gets on the refreshments line and Scott and Isaac begin arguing over who was faster on the ice. Knowing that neither one of them is going to relent Stiles says, “Okay guys we all know that Lydia is the fastest.” Lydia smiles and poses with her hand under her chin.  
     “No Lydia is the best at tricks. I’m the fastest.” Jackson says obviously feeling very self important.  
     “Umm no. Danny is the fastest if anything.” Stiles counters.  
     “Well if I had his skates I would be ten times faster.” Jackson kicks with his rental skate and glares at it like the skate is to blame for his poor decision making.  
     “Why haven’t you ever bought a good pair of skates then?” Boyd asks.  
     Jackson scoffs and sputters something about not everyone having the leisure time to find that kind of perfectly fitted skates. Stiles and Scott lock eyes and hold back their laughter, both knowing the real reason. Back in freshman year when Jackson and Lydia were together she use to drag him to the rink all the time. So in an attempt to assert a modicum of independence Jackson steadfastly refused to buy his own skates, cost efficiency be damned. When questioned, he gave a big speech about some made up reason as to why he will never purchase skates and is now so invested in that lie that he will never go back. This is the hill he will die on. And it is one of Stiles’ favorite things to tease him about.  
     Either not noticing that Jackson looks suspicious or not caring enough, Isaac proclaims, “Okay but, I’m still faster than Scott.”  
     “Oh we’ll see about that buddy.” Scott says with a challenge in his eyes.  
     Luckily Stiles is next so he orders two hot chocolates, pays, brings them over to the table, and slides one in front of Derek. Derek goes to get out his wallet but Stiles stops him, saying, “Come on man, it's the least I can do.” Derek smiles shyly saying “Thanks” and Stiles can’t look away- mostly because he’s cute, but also because he is sure that Erica and Allison are giving them some type of look.  
     By the time they finish their drinks everyone is buzzing to get back in the rink and start goofing around. They get on the ice and Scott and Isaac immediately zoom off around the perimeter. Stiles and Derek haven’t even made half a lap when Isaac slams to a stop next to them causing ice bits to shower their lower bodies while Scott yells “HI,” and skates a circle around them. Just as fast as they arrived, the two boys speed away laughing hysterically.  
     “Our friends are weird.” Stiles says.  
     “Tell me about it.” Derek agrees, looking in the direction of Erica, Lydia, and Allison, who seem to all be holding hands so they can drag the person in the middle around the rink. Stiles sees Erica and Lydia share a devious look before launching Allison who shrieks in surprise somehow maintaining her balance rocketing through the crowd.  
     Stiles and Derek pause their slow skating around the rink to lean against the barrier and watch their friends. Stiles looks over at Derek and is again struck by the feeling that he can’t look away. This time is different though; Stiles looks into the eyes of the man next to him and suddenly the world zooms in and it's only Derek. They’re standing close together, bodies angled towards each other, the rest of the arena forgotten. Stiles feels Derek’s hand reach towards his own and intertwine their fingers. The contact sends a jolt through Stiles’s entire body. They’ve touched before, but there is something about the intimacy of the gesture that makes Stiles’ nerves tingle. His eyes flicker away from Derek’s for only a second to glance at his lips. Derek slowly leans forward, no trace of uncertainty in the movement. Before Stiles can fully admire this, they’re kissing. It’s a soft sweet kiss that doesn’t last very long, but when they break apart Stiles is left feeling weightless. Stiles looks at Derek and the overwhelming happiness he feels is clearly reflected in Derek’s smile. Standing on the ice, surrounded by his friends, holding hands with Derek after an amazing first kiss, Stiles knows that he will remember this as one of the best days of his life.


	26. What a Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Derek walks into his room in a daze. He passes the mirror and notices that he’s still smiling; he thinks about why and smiles even harder. Derek thankfully has the room to himself, with Boyd staying over Erica’s, so he is free to flop down on his bed, smile like an idiot and replay the nights events in his head.  
     Derek’s first kiss with Stiles was magical. It was completely worth the intense amount of courage Derek had to work up to do it. And it somehow went unnoticed by the ridiculous amount of friends that were on the date with them, which is a miracle in and of itself. It's not that Derek didn’t enjoy having his friends around, but there are just some things that he’d like to be private between Stiles and himself.  
     Speaking of private, if the kiss was a miracle than the walk home was heaven. Stiles insisted on walking Derek to his room because, according to Stiles, it was his turn. After informing Derek that he would be walking him home, Stiles grabbed his hand and marched out of the rink with Derek in tow. As they settled into a calmer pace Stiles intertwined their fingers, looked over at Derek and said,  
     “So I hope the ice skating wasn’t too terrible for you?”  
     “I had a great time.” Derek assured him.  
     “Well you can still pick the activity next time.” Stiles said, rubbing the back of his head nervously with his free hand. Derek couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Stiles wanting there to be a next time, because Derek really wanted there to be one too. He also wanted there to be a next next time, and a time after that, and a time after that. Somehow Derek found himself ready to commit right there, which is not all too surprising as Derek had never been a fan ambiguity. It made him nervous, and he didn't want to be nervous around Stiles anymore. Derek knows that a lot of people, college students in particular, weren’t into committing right away, - thought it was weird actually- but if Stiles’s face after their kiss was anything to go by then he definitely felt the same way Derek did. So Derek took a deep breath, mustered up his courage once again, and did the one thing that his older sister Laura was always telling him to do when his anxiety was making him question everything, he just asked.  
     “Do you want to be my boyfriend? Like officially?” As much as he wanted to, Derek didn’t look away, too afraid to miss any emotion that might cross Stiles’ face which started out shocked but slowly morphed into something else.  
     “Uhh wow umm... actually yea, I would.”  
     “You don't seem sure”  
     “Nono!” Stiles flails his arms, consequently shaking Derek’s which he was still holding. “I am! I-I'm just surprised, that was so blunt -which is _awesome_. Okay, honestly, I didn't think I’d ever want to commit to someone so fast but I _really_ wanna be your boyfriend dude!”  
     The sincerity flowing out of Stiles was so overwhelming that relief flooded Derek and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.  
     “Okay good.” Derek said somewhat shyly.  
     “It's settled then,” Stiles proclaimed as he stopped walking and tugged Derek back closer to him by the hand he was holding, and grasped the other one. “Boyfriends.” Stiles looked into Derek’s eyes, pulled him in even closer, and kissed him. It was a slow sweet kiss that promised many more in the future. It made Derek’s stomach flip just thinking about it now. He rubs his hand over his eyes, still trying to process the night. He has a boyfriend now. _Stiles_ is his _boyfriend_. What a night.  
  
     Derek isn’t sure what time he finally fell asleep, but he wakes up the next morning feeling content. He looks over at his phone and sees a text from Stiles.  
  
     S: Good morning boyfriend  
  
     Derek smiles to himself and replies in kind. Seeing the time, Derek realizes that he’s suppose to be at Saturday quidditch practice in thirty minutes. Derek’s phone buzzes again as he’s getting dressed and he will never tell anyone that he trips over his not-all-the-way-pulled-up pants in his haste to grab his phone and open the message.  
  
     S: so why don't i meet you at your room tonight and we can walk to Allison and Lydia’s together?  
     D: I thought you were coming from Oak?  
     S: yes?  
     D: Isn't that out of your way?  
     S: ummmm nooo  
     D: You wanna walk into Allison and Lydia’s holding hands and see who notices first?  
     S: i have a feeling this relationship is gonna work out great  
  
     Derek smiles and rereads the message, shaking his head at Stiles’ antics. After a full minute Derek finally finishes getting dressed, grabs his things and heads out to practice. He makes it just in time. However he barely pays attention, mind still wondering back to last night; heart fluttering every time he remembers the text Stiles just sent him. Derek is unable to get his head in the game until it is literally hit with a bludger. Derek rubs his face and glares at the beater who threw it, and Parish for good measure who is not even trying to suppress his laughter. Taking a deep breath, Derek shakes himself, looks around the field and forces himself to play the rest of practice with a clear head- well he tries to at least avoid anymore bludgers.


	27. We Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     “OH MY GODS DEREK IS MY BOYFRIEND” Stiles shouts, opening his eyes in the morning. “Oh shit.” Remembering he lives in a double Stiles quickly looks across the room to make sure the other bed is empty. Assured that he is alone, Stiles lets out a “Woop!” and flails his limbs, suddenly full of energy.  
     Stiles reaches for his phone to share the best news ever with Scott. He opens a new text and pauses, thumbs hovering over the screen, realizing the opportunity he has here. Smiling evilly to himself Stiles sends a text to Derek instead. Stiles lets his head fall back on his pillow as he soaks in what might be the best realization he has ever woken up to.  
     When his phone buzzes with a reciprocal ‘good morning boyfriend’ text, Stiles sends Derek the start of his plan, and upon receiving his response he sighs contentedly and puts his hand to his heart, “He gets me.” After sending off one more text, Stiles dramatically throws the covers off of himself and leaps out of bed. He dances around the room, picking out his clothes while singing, “Derek is my boyfriend! Derek is my boyfriend!...” punctuating each line with a kick or a punch. When Stiles gets to work he spends the entire time bouncing around in his seat thinking about Derek. He doesn’t do any actual work, but with his mind fully occupied, his shift seems to fly by.  
     At 4:59 Stiles’ legs are jiggling with anticipation, and at 5:00 he races out the door. At 5:01 Stiles comes back in to get his jacket and sign out of the system. Forcing himself to take it a bit slower this time, Stiles pats his pockets and looks around to make sure he has everything. Satisfied, he walks out the door a second time and heads to Derek’s, texting that he is on his way. When he arrives, Derek is already standing outside leaning against the wall in a dark green hoodie. Stiles stands still for a second, taking in the beautiful sight.  
     Noticing Stiles, Derek smiles, pushes off the building, and walks toward him. “Hi.”  
     “Hey. How are your feet?” Stiles asks, falling into step with Derek.  
     “They’ve been better.”  
     “Sorry”  
     “No it was fun.” Derek is quick to assure him. “Totally worth it.”  
     Stiles squeals internally at the idea that Derek considers a date with him totally worth maiming his ankles. “Okay well you still get to pick our next date. Any ideas yet?”  
     “Yea, actually, I was thinking maybe another movie night.”  
     “Thor 2?!” Stiles exclaims adding a jump to his step.  
     “I thought I got to choose?” Derek says smiling.  
     “I can still offer suggestions. Especially when they’re great ones like Thor 2.”  
     “Okay well we’ll put that in consideration, but I was thinking more along the lines of a classic, like Princess Bride or something.”  
     “You like Princess Bride? I love Princess Bride!” Stiles says, jumping onto nearby bench. He continues in a terrible accent waving around an imaginary sword, “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!”  
     Derek laughs and loudly says “Inconceivable!”  
     Stiles, having walked the length of the bench, jumps down with a flourish next to Derek and says in the same bad accent, “I do not think that word means what you think it means.”  
     They continue on trading quotes and thinking of old movies until they’re almost at Lydia and Allison’s apartment. Stiles takes Derek’s hand in his and asks,  
     “So who do you think is gonna notice first?”  
     “Erica.” Derek says immediately.  
     “My money’s on Lydia.”  
     “Well, we’ll see.” Derek says knocking on the door.  
     Its opened by Danny who is talking and looking to his left, apparently still invested in a conversation that is going on in the living room. Stiles leads Derek inside and they enter the buzzing room.  
     Unable to hold it in for any more than ten seconds. Stiles positions Derek and himself in front of the group, raises their clasped hands and loudly announces, “Attention everyone, Derek is officially my boyfriend now, congratulations to me.”  
     “Ooh yay!” Allison squeals, clapping her hands together.  
     Scott rushes forward and engulfs both Stiles and Derek in a massive hug saying, “I’m so happy for you guys!” Stiles thinks he may feel a small tear drop onto his neck where Scott’s head is buried. As Scott continues to hug them, the rest of their friends respond all at the same time.  
     Both Danny and Boyd sound slightly exasperated as they say “Finally” and “We know” respectively.  
     “I thought they were already together.” Jackson says with an air of annoyance.  
     “Wait you mean you guys haven't been boyfriends this whole time?” Ethan asks. Truly a perfect match for Jackson.  
     “Thank gods, you guys were killing me” Lydia says, as she was obviously incredibly inconvenienced by Stiles and Derek’s blossoming romance.  
     Scott finally releases his friends, eyes glistening. Parish walks over, fist bumps Derek and gives Stiles a firm handshake.  
     “Finally got your shit together. Good job dudes.” Isaac says, high fiving Stiles and Derek at the same time, as he slips between them on his way into the kitchen.  
     “Does this mean I can't pick your clothes out any more?” Erica asks from her spot on the couch.  
     This gets a laugh from the group and as Derek promises that he’ll always need fashion assistance, Scott wraps his arms once more around Stiles and Derek, “I’m just so happy.”  
     “We know buddy.” Stiles says, patting his best friend’s head.


	28. Don’t Be Nicholas Cage’s Accent in Con Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     The first thing Derek notices walking into Stiles’ room is a mountain of dvd cases in the middle of the floor with Thor 2 innocuously lying on top. Derek says nothing, but looks at the dvd then back at Stiles raising one eyebrow.  
     “Hey, just because Thor 2 _happens_ to be on the top of the pile, does not mean that I have any type of ulterior motive. _Okay?_ I am simply trying to present the full range of options available to you.” Stiles says, sitting down and spreading his arms to encompass the pile before them.  
     “Right.” Derek says, elongating the word to ensure that Stiles can hear the sarcasm in his voice. “I should have known.” Derek takes off and opens his backpack, joining Stiles on the floor and adding his own dvds to Stiles’ extensive collection. “I brought a few of my own as well.”  
     “Ooo lets see.” Stiles says, grabbing the ones closest to him. “Road to El Dorado- excellent film, Stardust- the spiritual sequel to Princess Bride” as Stiles grabs more, he asks, “So which one of these did you want to watch?”  
     “Well I was planning on showing you a movie you haven’t seen yet, but since you’ve apparently seen every movie known to man...” Derek trails off looking at the vast array around them.  
     “What can I say,” Stiles says chuckling, “I like watching movies. My dad and I use to watch one every Sunday.”  
     “Oh thats nice”  
     “Yea, it sort of brought me and my dad together after my mom died. Ya know? We could just sit together and focus on the same thing, and after the movie was over we had something to talk about besides my mom that didn’t feel like we were just avoiding the subject and pretending everything was okay.” Stiles glances away for a second and clenches his hands together nervously. “But anyway what about you? Your family never watched anything together?”  
     Derek is touched that Stiles feels comfortable enough to share a story like that with him. He can also sense that Stiles isn’t looking to dwell on it so he says, “We were more of a weekly tv show family.”  
     “What show?”  
     “Survivor was the big one. We would always argue about what was the best strategy for certain contestants over dinner. Once it got so heated, Laura flung mashed potatoes in my dad’s face after he said her favorite person had no shot at winning.”  
     “Oh my gods that's amazing.”  
     “She claims it was an accident, but my mom is the only one that believes her.”  
     Stiles laughs and finishes looking through Derek's movies and confirms that he has indeed seen all of them already. Derek, no longer able to enact his plan has no strong opinions on what to watch so they decide to go through everything they have together and see what strikes their fancy.  
     As they begin sorting through the mountain of movies in front of them Derek asks, “So do you get to pick our next date now?”  
     “Actually Scott does…” Stiles says training off. When Derek cocks his head in confusion Stiles continues, “So Scott and Allison asked if we would go on a double date with them.”  
     “Oh ok, that could be fun.”  
     “Awesome! Cause I already told them yes. We’re going mini golfing.” Stiles gives Derek a toothy smile, which he probably thinks makes him look more innocent and forgivable.  
     Derek huffs out a laugh and shakes his head “Well I’m pretty great at mini golfing so that sounds good to me.”  
     “Wow such confidence.”  
     “I’ve got a few moves.”  
     “You’ll have to show me some.” Stiles says leaning in and wiggling his eyebrows.  
     “And lose my advantage?” Derek asks, pretending not to notice the potential double entendre.  
     “Wow okay, the competition is on, I’m gonna kick your ass.” Stiles says sitting back and blindly reaching into their now incredibly disorganized pile.  
     “How about...” Stiles says, flipping the movie around so he can read the title, “Ghost Rider?”  
     “That weird Nicholas Cage movie?”  
     “So no then?”  
     “Nah. Unless you actually really want to?”  
     “Nah there are much better Cage movies to be watched.” Stiles says plunging the DVD back into the mess in front of him and pulling out a replacement. “Ha see? National Treasure!”  
     “That’s a great movie.”  
     “You like National Treasure?”  
     “Everyone likes National Treasure they just don’t all admit it.” Derek says holding two cases in front of him to compare the special features of his Star Trek DVD with Stiles’ blue ray addition.  
     “Mine has the cast interviews.” Stiles says resting his chin on Derek’s shoulder, having moved to see what Derek was reading.  
     “Worth it?”  
     “Not particularly.”  
     “Okay” Derek says putting it down and reaching for another movie he thinks Stiles would really like, “Treasure Planet?”  
     “Scott and I actually watched that last night.” Stiles says, looking slightly apologetic. He reaches blindly into the pile again, “Spector?”  
     “I’m not too big on James Bond. Jurassic Park 2?”  
     “Never again” Stiles says quietly, looking haunted, eyes unfocused. Derek decides not to ask. Stiles shakes his head and grabs another movie without looking. “Ghost Rider?”  
     “I thought we already rejected Ghost Rider?”  
     “If I pull it from the pile it gets suggested.” Stiles says shrugging as if to say ‘I don’t make the rules.’  
     “Why don't you just put it to the side then?”  
     “Ehh, I already threw it back in. Next time.”  
     Derek rolls his eyes fondly and sifts through their pile.  
     After a minute of silent searching Stiles suggests, “The Amazing Spiderman?”  
     “I’ve already seen it.”  
     “Yea, once.” Stiles says as if that’s almost as bad as having not seen it at all.  
     “One and done that’s what I always say.” Derek responds, holding up a copy of Zombieland.  
     “Nice.” Stiles says, giving Derek a fist bump with one hand and reaching into the pile with the other. “Alright, so this one is like the human torch but it's Nick Cage on a motorcycle.”  
     Derek laughs “Stop saying Ghost Rider.”  
     “Okay then how about Ghoul Driver?”  
     “No.”  
     “Phantom Motorist?”  
     “That actually sounds cool.”  
     “Spirit Chauffeur?”  
     “Why do you even have that movie?” Derek asks hoping to stop Stiles before he pulls out a thesaurus.  
     “Scott got it for my birthday one year as a joke cause I told him I already owned every halfway decent superhero movie.”  
     “And you’ve never watched it?” Derek says taking the movie and noticing the plastic film still covering the case.  
     “Nope.” Stiles says taking the DVD back and tossing it into the pile.  
     Derek shakes his head at his boyfriend’s antics, who grabs another movie and says, “Die Hard 2?”  
     “They didn’t die in the first one?”  
     Stiles rolls his eyes, “Speed?”  
     “Isn't that a drug?”  
     “Scary Movie?”  
     “I don’t like scary movies.”  
     “Dude you’re totally judging these movies by their covers!”  
     “Thats for books.” Derek says, knowing full well that he is doing exactly that. Historically Derek has always judged a movie by its title and poster, he just can’t help it. That’s probably why he hasn’t seen too many movies.  
     “You are though! Okay close your eyes i’m going to read you the descriptions.” Knowing he was being difficult, but not wanting to admit it, Derek dramatically throws an arm over his eyes, sighs, and lies down with his head in Stiles’ lap. “Drama queen.” Stiles say, chuckeling and patting Derek’s hair.  
     Stiles then picks up a dvd, clears his throat and says in his best movie announcer voice, “An enterprising youth sells his belongings in a plan to buy his first car, but he soon finds out that this car has a plan of its own. In this gritty revamp of Herbie Fully Loaded the stakes of the race track championship are replaced with the _threat of human extinction._ ”  
     “So I see you’re not actually reading the backs of the DVD cases.”  
     “My descriptions are better.”  
     “They _are_ more interesting.” Derek admits.  
     “Exactly” Stiles says cheerfully. With his eyes closed, Derek listens to his boyfriend rustle through the pile next to them. Stiles then clears his throat and begins another description. They go through a few like this, Derek giving Stiles a no, two maybes, and one definitely not.  
     Stiles clears his throat extra loud before beginning the next description, “Nicholas makes a deal with death and his fiery mechanical steed allows him to-”  
     “Oh my gods Stiles.” Derek says uncovering his eyes to glare up at his boyfriend who is laughing maniacally. “Can you give me a real suggestion please?”  
     “Okay now here me out...”  
     Twenty minutes later they’re ten minutes into Thor 2 and Derek has no idea how it happened. Derek feels like he's been conned, but isn’t sure he could prove it. At least Stiles is happy. And Derek really does like Loki, so it's not a terrible choice. If Derek is being honest with himself, he’d probably watch anything if it meant getting to be with Stiles. There's something about staying in, and cuddling under the covers that just feels right. As Stiles settles in closer to him, Derek puts his attention back on the movie in front of them, feeling wholly contented.


	29. Who Had 3:15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     “Look at our balls Derek!” Scott says as Stiles giggles uncontrollably. Derek turns around to see Scott and Stiles each holding two different brightly colored mini golf balls in their hands.  
     “Why is it that every time we come to mini golf, the two of you turn into 12 year olds?” Allison says with a world weary sigh.  
     “So this is a regular thing for them then?” Derek asks.  
     Allison grasps Derek’s shoulder and says in a foreboding voice, “You are in for a treat tonight, my friend.” Derek is left to wonder what he has gotten himself into as she goes to retrieve their clubs.  
     Derek surveys the area as the group walks through the dinosaur themed course. The place is littered with over the top decorations. He takes note of fossil imprints, a one man plane with a broken propeller, large excavation tools, and dinosaur skeletons half submerged in the ground. One of which Stiles and Scott are climbing onto.  
     “Okay so teams or no teams?” Scott says, following Stiles down the neck of the carefully labeled remains of a Brachiosaurus.  
     Confused, Derek asks, “How do you do teams in mini golf?”  
     “The total score of both people would count as your team score.” Scott answers.  
     “So we could do like me and Scott versus you and Stiles” Allison elaborates.  
     “No way!” Stiles interjects, “Me and Derek have a challenge going!”  
     “Ok, then I want Derek.” Allison and Scott reply at the same time, a bit too quickly.  
     Stiles stops in his tracks and looks over at his friends, “Wow you guys are so rude.”  
     Scott, almost crashing into Stiles, insists, “No we’re not.”  
     “I’m really not that bad!” Stiles leaps across the gap created by a few missing vertebrae and walks across the skeleton’s lower half with his hands spread out for balance.  
     “It's not that,” Allison says, looping her arm through Derek’s, “We just like Derek better.”  
     Stiles huffs, “Derek do you see how rude they are to me?”  
     “I don’t know Stiles, is it rude or is it true?” Derek’s answer seems to suprise Scott who barks out a laugh and almost slips off the skeleton's tail.  
     Stiles gasps dramatically, “You’re supposed to be on _my_ side.”  
     “I thought we were in the middle of a challenge?” Derek asks, smiling sweetly.  
     “Fine I’ll crush you all!” Stiles raises his club over his head and marches off to the first hole.  
     Deciding to play one on one, the little group begins their trek through the 18 hole course. Derek is doing as well as he expected to, and Allison has been matching him point for point. Scott’s not too far behind, leaving Stiles in dead last and claiming to still be “warming up.” When they approach hole five Allison tells them to go ahead and play this one without her. As Stiles lines up his shot, Derek raises his eyebrow at Scott.  
     “Allison has never not gotten a hole in one on this one.” Scott supplies.  
     “Isn’t this par four?” Derek can tell that Allison is good, but no one is that good. He lines up his shot as best he can, hits the ball, does not get a hole in one, and meets the boys at the other end of the hole to take their final shots.  
     “Doesn’t she look like she’s about to whip out a protractor?” Stiles comments as Scott takes his turn. Derek looks behind him and sees Allison crouching next to the green, sizing up the challenge before her. “I wish just once she would miss.”  
     “That doesn’t seem very likely.” Derek says, seeing the intense concentration in Allison’s eyes.  
     Smirking evilly, Stiles leans in and whispers, “Not unless we sabotage her.”  
     “Ooo yea.” Scotts eyes light up.  
     “You would sabotage your girlfriend?” Derek asks.  
     “Hells yeah.” Scott moves to stand in what he seems to think is an inconspicuous pose with the head of his club inside the hole, effectively blocking anything from entering. “Okay what if I just casually stood like this?”  
     Torn between being scandalized at the blatant attempt to cheat and being disappointed at how bad his friend is at it. Derek says, “You can't just jam your stick in the hole.”  
     “Yea that shit hurts Scott.” Stiles interjects.  
     “Like you would know.” Scott fires back quickly.  
“I fucking might.”  
     Before Scott can reply and Derek gets a chance to over think what this means about Stiles’ sexual experience level, Allison calls from the starting point. “Alright boys, clear the field. Its time.”  
     As the innuendos get worse, so does Stiles’ playing. Allison’s hole in one seems to have broken his spirit, so they’re now letting him take three shots to their one, making sure he is not always the last one to finish. Derek thinks Stiles is actually being a pretty good sport about it, considering that he typically gets the worst score by at least three strokes. But at hole nine Stiles gets stuck in the triangle of death. He hits his ball around and around the hole with no avail. Derek has seen even the calmest players lose their cool in this situation, and is not surprised when, clearly frustrated, Stiles yells, “Ahhh go in damn it!!”  
     Scott leans into Derek conspiratorially, and stage whispers, “Stiles has trouble getting it in.” Derek is saved the trouble of responding, as this comment appears to be the final straw on Stiles’ sanity, who leaps at his friend, club held high as if he intends to hit Scott over the head with it.  
     “I’ll kill you Scott! I’ll fucking kill you!”  
     Scott furiously backpedals, raising his club to block Stiles’ first strike, “You couldn’t if you tried!”  
     “Wanna bet?”  
     “Yea!”  
     The argument devolves into a full fledged sword fight right in between holes nine and ten. Derek glances around to make sure they’re not holding anyone up, but finds the course almost completely deserted.  
     “Don’t worry,” Allison assures him, “we only come during their slow times.”  
     “Smart.”  
     “We’ve learned from experience unfortunately.” Allison says, looking like she's fighting off a flashback as she takes out her phone. She uses it to take a video of Stiles and Scott’s sword fight and sends it in a group message to their friends along with the comment,  
   
    A: Who had 3:15?  
  
     “You guys had a betting pool on when Stiles and Scott would have a sword fight with their clubs?” Derek asks, wondering how this could have been predicted.  
     “Oh yea. Danny set it up when he heard we were going. Literally every time we come here something like this happens, I mean, you’ve seen how competitive those two are.”  
     Derek laughs “Yea I’ve seen it. And yet you still come?”  
     “Well Scott loves it here and I love Scott, so..”  
     “That's so _cute_.” Derek says with only a slight tone of sarcasm to his voice.  
     “Oh shut up.” Allison says, trying to brush past the comment, which only encourages Derek.  
     Sarcastic tone increasing, he says, “You guys are the cutest couple. Hashtag goals.”  
     “Oh my gods, you’re such a weirdo.”  
     “Yea but so are our boyfriends.” Derek says, smiling and turning his attention back to their companions. At the moment, Stiles and Scott have crossed ‘swords’ and are holding on with both hands, pushing into each other. Stiles seems to have a leverage advantage as he has stepped up on the cobblestones lining the pathway.  
     Stiles, bearing down on Scott, yells, “Take back what you said!”  
     “Not even with my dying breath!” Scott yells, equally passionate.  
     “Than perish in silence!”  
     “Never!” Scott barrel rolls to his right and jumps up, club raised, ready to defend another attack.  
     “Shall we finish the hole?” Allison asks, turning to Derek.  
     “Yes lets.” Derek motions for her to go ahead and take her shot. They take their time finishing the hole and move on to the next, chatting amicably all the while.  
     The boys eventually realize what's happening and whine for their dates to wait up. They attempt to ‘speed round’ the holes between them but are careless with their shots and it ends up taking just as long, if not longer than it would have it they just did it normally. Allison and Derek wait for them at the end of hole eleven having decided to watch and narrate like sports announcers.  
     Allison begins, “Scott lines up his shot. The ball leaves his club-”  
     Following the action, Derek interjects, “Stiles has already taken his shot without even-”  
     “Scott quickly jumps out of the way, just barely missing Stiles’ ball.”  
     “Which we all know would have incurred him a 3 point penalty.”  
     “And Scott cannot afford a penalty at this crucial point of the game.”  
     The speed round ends in fits of giggles. Scott raises his fists in the air triumphantly, having gotten his ball in a microsecond before Stiles who is lying on the astro turf with his limbs splayed out, both boys panting slightly from exertion.  
     Recovering from the excitement, the group continues through the course without anymore serious disruptions. They rehash the speed round and Allison informs them who won the bet- Lydia, of course. When they arrive at the final hole, Derek and Allison finish quickly. Scott is next and he and Allison go off to return their clubs. Derek sees that Stiles is trying to contain his frustration at continually missing the hole, and attempts to lighten the mood by saying, “Hey if it makes you feel any better, Bizzaro Stiles is really good at mini golf.”  
     Stiles slowly looks up at him and says fondly, “You fucking nerd.” Derek winks and walks off to return his club. It takes a few minutes of groans and bangs before Stiles finally joins them.  
     “Whatcha get?” Derek asks, smiling.  
     “I don't want to talk about it.”


	30. Gotta Go Fast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Derek awakens to the sound of both his and Boyd’s phones beeping at the same time. Derek checks his, squinting against the too bright light. He sees that its 7:08am, groans, and looks at the text from Isaac to their group chat anyway.  
  
     I: Got a table at the library. 3rd floor. Left of the computers.  
  
     Derek glances over at Boyd who hasn’t moved. Thinking he has the right idea, Derek puts his phone on silent and goes back to sleep.  
     Derek and Boyd both wake up at a more reasonable hour and grab breakfast before heading off to find the table Isaac has staked out in the library. They find Isaac typing furiously at his computer, notes and books spread in a circle around him. He is at a table in the back corner of the floor, partially obscured by a large bookcase. Derek notes that Isaac seems to be somehow typing up a paper and reading The Bacchae at the same time. He recalls that Isaac has one final this week- the lucky bastard- as well as a 15 page paper that he has been simultaneously complaining about and avoiding for 3 weeks. Derek, who has three tests to take and two papers to write in the next five days, does not feel bad for him.  
     “When’s your paper due again?” Derek asks, sitting down across from his friend, who doesn’t even look up to respond,  
     “11:59pm.”  
     “Shit.” Derek says, gently shifting Isaac’s multiple notebooks to make room for himself and Boyd next to him. Isaac says nothing and increases the speed of his typing. Derek exchanges a look with Boyd before diving into his work, thanking the gods he had the foresight to fully outline both of his papers during the last week of classes. They work in relative silence until Danny and Lydia arrive bearing cupcakes about an hour later.  
     “Hello boys.” Lydia says, depositing a large rectangular tupperware on the table. Derek looks up from editing his first essay, grateful for the distraction. They exchange pleasantries and compare finals schedules, commiserating over their mountainous workloads. Danny sits down across from Boyd opening a bottle of apple juice and handing it to his boyfriend. Lydia sits down next to him taking the head of the table and cracks open the tupperware in front of her. As if having smelt the cupcakes Erica and Stiles suddenly appear behind her. Stiles makes grabby hands at the container while Erica slides around the table to sit on Isaac’s other side.  
     Lydia passes a cupcake to Erica first who accepts it with a smile and leans back in her chair, peeling off the wrapper. She glances at Isaac’s computer screen and grimaces. Derek is reminded of the semester Erica took British Literature; she looked just like Isaac does now, only with darker circles under her eyes and about seven more coffee cups strewn about the table. Lydia offers Isaac a cupcake next but he apparently has ‘no time for solid foods,’ so she moves on, ignoring Stiles hovering behind her, and hands cupcakes out to the rest of the table, saving him for last. Stiles rolls his eyes and bounces off to sit beside Derek, half of the desert already stuffed in his mouth.  
     While taking off and digging through his backpack, Stiles kicks his chair out so it is parallel to the table. Laptop in hand, Stiles flops down in his seat and immediately puts his feet up on the edge of Derek’s chair, balancing his computer precariously on the tops of his raised knees. Derek considers shoving Stiles’ dirty sneakers off his chair, but looking at the boy beside him Derek decides that he likes the comfortable feeling of his lounging boyfriend comendering part of his chair.  
     “Uggggh.” Stiles moans only twenty minutes after his arrival. “Why do I have _so_ much work to do? This is impossible.”  
     “It's not impossible.” Derek replies, beginning his second essay.  
     “Seriously dude, I do not think you understand the insurmountable shit pile of work I have to get done this week. Why don’t the rest of you have as much crap? Totally not fair.” Stiles flaps his arms for emphasis.  
     “Because most of us had the good sense to take the regular amount of classes.” Erica says turning the page of her book with a superior flare.  
     “Lydia’s taking seven classes!” Stiles defends.  
     “Yea but she’s Lydia.” Erica retorts, as if this should have been obvious. Stiles looks over at Lydia for support, but she only tilts her head as if to say ‘she’s not wrong.’ Stiles leans his head back and lets out a world weary sigh. Derek pats Stiles’ foot in solidarity, and the group continues working at their table for most of the day, taking breaks to complain about a professor or just talk when their eyes need a break. Isaac does not join them for dinner, mumbling something about Arizona Iced Teas as he waves them away.  
     The group stretches the meal as long as they can, no one relishing the idea of getting back to work. When they finally find the motivation to leave their table, Danny says that he needs to grab something to “keep Isaac alive.” When he meets them at the exit, Derek is surprised and mildly impressed as he watches Danny smuggle an iced tea and a turkey sandwich- plate and all- out of the dining hall with just a smile and a wink at the girl swiping ID cards.  
     Back in their corner of the library Derek reluctantly pulls his computer out of his bag and watches as Danny places his contraband meal on the table next to his boyfriend and asks, “How’s it going babe?”  
     “One. Page. Left.” Isaac says staring intently at his computer, hair sticking out in all directions, looking as though he’s only staying awake by the powers of will and apple juice.  
     “You got it buddy.” Stiles says encouragingly.  
     Derek, not wanting to race the clock tomorrow, throws himself back into his final essay. He becomes so engrossed in arguing the symbolism of Yorick’s skull in Hamlet, that he jumps at a sudden shout.  
     “DONE.”  
     Derek looks up to see Isaac slam the enter key, close his laptop and promptly fall asleep in Danny’s lap. Unfazed, Danny continues working, occasionally sitting back to go over his code and stroke Isaac’s hair as he nuzzles in closer. Derek rolls his eyes and goes back into the world of Shakespeare.


	31. Almost Too Tired to Function

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV:Derek

     Derek doesn't see Stiles on Monday, but when Derek arrives at their table in the library the next day he looks completely different. Sitting next to Scott glaring at his computer while blindly highlighting a text book, it looks like all the life has been drained out of him.  
     “Hey, how’s it going?” Derek greets cautiously.  
     Stiles’ death glare softens slightly when he looks up to see Derek sitting down across from him. “Terrible.”  
     “Stiles procrastinated again.” Scott explains.  
     “So did you.” Stiles says indignant.  
     “I’ve got time.” Scott leans back clasping his hands behind his head in his best approximation of chill.  
     “Dude you only have one more day than I do.”  
     “Yea, twenty-four whole hours.”  
     “Minus time for sleep.” Derek reminds his friend.  
     “Oh I forgot about sleep.” Scott sits up straight, beginning to look worried.  
     “Sleep is for the weak.” Stiles declares. He then drains his mug and scrubs his hands over his face, looking as though he’s trying to wake up. When Stiles removes his hands Derek notices the dark circles beginning to form under his eyes. Derek wonders if Stiles has even slept since the last time they saw each other. His hair is sticking out at all angles and he keeps lightly slapping his own face at random intervals. After Stiles leaves the table, muttering something about “fucking green tea” under his breath, Derek shares his concerns with Scott.  
     “Oh dude this isn’t even the worst it's ever been.” Scott sits up in his chair, clearly grateful for the distraction.  
     “Seriously?”  
     “Yea, one time Stiles got so sleep deprived he couldn’t stop talking to himself. Not like, whispering randomly, fully saying all of his thoughts out loud. I don’t think he even realized it half the time. Except once I was getting a book on the fourth floor and he walked past me and said “This is the wrong floor. Oh im talking out loud. I should stop.” He did not stop.”  
     “Wow.” Derek wonders how much stress and little sleep it takes for a person to get to that state.  
     “Yea so as long as he doesn't enter a state of delirium, we’re good.”  
     With Scott’s assurances in mind, Derek keeps a careful eye on Stiles when he gets back, but doesn’t say anything more. Danny and Isaac arrive not long after and it looks to Derek as if their roles have reversed. Danny is coding non stop, and with only one exam at the end of the week, Isaac takes it upon himself to care for Danny. Forcing him to eat, refilling his water, and giving him juice or soda when it looks like he needs a boost. Derek asks Stiles if he needs anything to which Stiles monotonically responds,  
     “Green tea makes me poop but it also keeps me awake.” He then proceeds to finish his cup.  
     Three mugs of tea and two bathroom trips later, Stiles finally finishes his project. Derek finds this out when Stiles abruptly closes his laptop and announces loudly that it’s time for dinner, eliciting angry looks from students nearby. Stiles, of course, ignores them and charges toward the staircase, shouldering his bag as he goes. Derek looks around apologetically and packs up carefully, trying not to make any more noise. They head off in pursuit of Stiles, leaving Danny to his work at his insistence that he “almost has this fucking thing figured out.”  
     At the dining hall Derek is the first to notice Lydia sitting at a corner table in the back. He sits down next to her and they wait for the rest of their friends to find them. When everyone has mostly finished eating, Isaac gets up to grab food for Danny while Scott and Stiles become engrossed in some strange game that involves flicking bits of their food around the table. Derek watches as they each take up a shaker intermittently dumping salt and pepper on the section of table between them. There seems to be some type of chaotic order to it, but if there were rules Derek couldn't see them. Giving up, he turns his attention to Isaac who has just returned with what looks like a grilled cheese carefully wrapped in napkins. Derek begins to wonder if he shouldn’t try to be more like his friend.  
     “Okay spill.” Lydia says turning to face Derek next to her.  
     “Spill what?” Derek says carefully placing his cup down on the table. Lydia raises her eyebrow leveling him with an Erica worthy stare, letting Derek know that his weak attempt at nonchalance isn’t fooling anyone. Derek sighs, not sure how to phrase his thoughts in a way that won't make him seem pathetic. “I just feel like Isaac is a better boyfriend than me.”  
     “How do you figure that?”  
     “Him and Danny have just been so great taking care of eachother and I feel like I should be doing that for Stiles cause I'm pretty sure he hasn't slept since the last time I saw him but I don't know what he needs.”  
     Lydia looks over at Stiles and Scott -who are now using their forks to slide a carrot slice around the table like a miniature hockey puck, laughter just on this side of hysteria- and takes in the wrinkled arc reactor t-shirt and the plaid sweatpants Stiles has been wearing since Sunday that are the same shade of purple as the circles under his eyes. “You’re probably right, Stiles doesn't sleep much on a good day let alone finals week.”  
     “Thus me totally failing the first test of our relationship, I am a terrible boyfriend.”  
     Lydia puts a consoling hand on his arm. “You are _not_ a terrible boyfriend. It's different with Stiles. He’ll be fine, you just have to ride it out. He’ll work like crazy all week, then when it's over he’ll sleep twenty-four hours straight and be back to normal by Saturday.”  
     “I hope you’re right.”  
     “Of course I am.” Lydia says flipping her hair confidently.  
     “SCORE!”  
     Derek looks over just in time to watch as Stiles, raising his hands over his head in triumph, knocks his bowl off the table and stares at it, frozen, as the dish tumbles to the floor and shatters.  
     The ensuing shocked silence is broken by Stiles’ soft, “Aww Cereal.”  
     Scott’s previously silent laughter is interrupted by a yelp as he falls off his chair, apparently put off balance as his laughter becomes uncontrollable.  
     Stiles finally lowers his arms to point at Scott and gasps out through his own fit of laughter, “Aww Scott.”


	32. Many Rubber Ducks Were Harmed Over The Course of Finals Week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     As finals continue, Derek and Isaac watch their boyfriends completely melt down over the course of the week. Jackson jokes to Derek that they’re “watching two men completely unspool right in front of their eyes.” Derek doesn't want to agree, but thinking back he finds it hard not to. As the week progresses, Stiles has been retreating further and further into himself, walking around in a fog and never looking up from his work or taking out his earbuds for more that a few minutes. Danny on the other hand seems to be experience ing the total opposite end of the spectrum. The normally zen boy, has become increasingly prone to enraged outbursts, seemingly unable to contain himself.  
     Before Derek can respond, Scott slams his hands down on the open text book in his lap and declares, “We need snacks!”  
     With Thursday being reading day, all of Derek’s friends have scattered themselves about Lydia and Allison’s living room in various states of study. Scott- who has been having the most trouble focusing today- has apparently decided that snacks are the way to cure that. When it becomes clear that the rest of the room shares his sentiment, they vote to give Derek and Isaac the title of “least amount of things to do so make us food.” With only one test left in two days Derek can’t argue and follows Isaac into the kitchen to dig for something “healthy and sustainable” as per Lydia’s orders.  
     Derek opens the fridge and sees two blocks of cheese. Feeling like a cheese plate is something Lydia would do, Derek grabs the blocks and moves to get out a cutting board as Isaac rinses some red grapes in the sink.  
     “So how has finals week been treating you?” Isaac asks over his shoulder.  
     “Better than its been treating Stiles.” Derek says beginning to cut the first block of cheese.  
     “Yea Stiles hasn’t said one word all day, are we sure he’s alive?”  
     “Well he is sitting right over there, but honestly no.” Derek gestures to the living room with his knife.  
     “Maybe he was body swapped.” Isaac suggests cheerfully.  
     “With who, Danny?”  
     Isaac breaths out something between a sigh and a laugh, “Poor Danny.”  
     “Is he doing okay?”  
     “He’d be doing a lot better if he could get his last project of compile.” Isaac says dumping the freshly washed and dried grapes into a bowl.  
     “What does that mean?” Derek asks, noticing that Isaac has picked up on computer science terms he would have had no idea existed this time last year.  
     “So apparently, when someone writes a code, before it can be tested to see if it’s doing what you want, you have to have a complete code, meaning its able to compile. Danny has not been able to compile all week.”  
     “Yikes.” Derek says, his input as helpful as ever.  
     Isaac seems to get the sentiment though, nodding his head as he says, “I know. He’s been switching back and forth with his other projects to keep himself at least semi sane, but now that they’re done this is all he has to focus on.”  
     “Maybe the snacks will help.” Derek offers, gathering the crackers and freshly cut cheese onto a tray to bring out into the main room.  
     The snacks did not help. About an hour later, Danny leans his head back and yells unintelligibly at the ceiling. Isaac gently rubs his arm and says “Babe I think it's time.”  
     Danny rolls his head to the side to look at his boyfriend. “I feel so stupid doing it.”  
     “But it helps sometimes right?”  
     “I _guess_.” Danny draws out the word and reaches into his backpack to pull out a small yellow rubber duck.  
     “Fletcher!” Derek jumps slightly, surprised by Stiles’ happy shout, it being his first word in four hours. Danny squeezes the duck in Stiles direction, grabs his laptop, and walks into the adjacent room to talk with Fletcher in private.  
     “Fletcher?” Derek repeats, but Stiles is already slipping back into his study trance. Derek notes that Stiles is at least typing with more of his usual gusto, the rubber duck sighting seeming to have envigerated him.  
     Derek learns from Allison that the duck has been around since freshman year and was named Fletcher by Stiles when Danny first took it out and had to explain to his confused group of friends what the rubber duck method is. Apparently in the computer science field, there is something called the rubber duck method in which a coder who is having trouble with their work, explains it to a rubber duck. Theoretically, explaining your code to the duck will make you realize where you went wrong. Derek also learns that the method mostly results in a lot of ducks being thrown at walls. He hopes Danny is more successful.  
     “So who wants to take a break and play a quick game of smash?” Scott asks.  
     “No.” Derek responds with the rest of the room.  
     “Aww come on.” Scott begs.  
     “You have to do your work Scott.” Allison chides.  
     “I have been studying all day.” Scott assures her.  
     “Did you finish your lab?”  
     “I have been studying all day.”  
     “Finish.” Allison says firmly, pointing to her boyfriend’s backpack that is lying untouched on the floor between them.  
     “Why are you guy the worst?”  
     “Don’t blame us,” Erica chimes in, “You’re the one that made us promise not to let you procrastinate.”  
     “Yea well I obviously didn't mean that I wasn't allowed to have breaks.” Scott says in a poor attempt at haughtiness.  
     “Look at Stiles he's working so hard.” Lydia says in an attempt at encouragement. “Be like him.” Everyone looks over at Stiles who is staring at his laptop screen with half closed eyes and mouthing words as he types them.  
     “Stiles is on like ten percent.” Scott observes. “He is not a role model. I need to be fully charged in order to be productive.”  
     “We’ll play with you when you’re done.” Allison says hiding a laugh.  
     Scott grumbles and makes a show of sadly pulling a notebook out of his backpack. They work in silence then, interrupted only by Scotts pointedly loud page turns and Erica’s intermittent humming. Derek continuously looks up to check on Stiles who- besides typing- has not moved a muscle in almost an hour. When Stiles finally gets up, he walks to the bathroom in a daze, not even noticing when he is almost nailed in the head by a rubber duck thrown by an extremely frustrated Danny who follows the speeding duck out of the room he sequestered himself in.  
     “THIS STUPID DUCK WON'T TELL ME WHY I CAN’T COMPILE.” As he yells, Danny grips the back of the couch Isaac and Jackson occupy with both hands. He then seems to deflate and flops over onto the middle cushion.  
     “Ducks don't actually know computer science, bro.” Jackson says, untangling himself from Danny’s long limbs and settling his friends legs across his lap.  
     Danny buries his head in Isaac’s shoulder and whines, “Well it would be really helpful if they did.”


	33. Its Called Hosting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     “A WHOLE MONTH Scott” Stiles complains flapping around in his bed.  
     Scott shifts in his own bed so he can see his friend. “It's really not that bad, Allison and I-"  
     “A WHOLE MONTH.”  
     “Allison and I are going through the same thing.”  
     “But you’re Scott and Allison, that doesn’t count.”  
     Smiling, Scott says, “You’re Stiles and Derek, you’ll make it work.”  
     Stiles crosses his arms and pouts. The caffeinated hazy shitstorm that is finals week is finally over, which means that winter break is coming up in less than two days. Usually Stiles can’t wait to take a break from classes and see his dad. It works out great, because his most important person from school, Scott, always comes home with him, so he never misses campus too much. This year however, Stiles is in a relationship. He still can’t believe that Derek actually likes him, but the man has been going on dates with him for a little under a month so Stiles supposes thats proof enough. Still he worries what will happen between them if they go an entire month without seeing each other. Maybe Derek will forget about him. Maybe he’ll reconnect with an old flame at home. Maybe Derek will realize that he’s been dating a wack job for the past month and he’ll come to his senses and dump him.  
     In an obvious attempt to distract him from the impending doom of his love life Scott asks, “So what are we making for Christmas Eve Eve this year?” Scott knows that Stiles will take any chance to discuss his baking plans, which in Stiles’ opinion is incredibly unfair.  
     “We?” Scott also knows full well that the only help he ever is for Christmas Eve Eve is licking the spoon. Which he sometimes does before Stiles has even finished adding all the ingredients.  
     “I help.” In the dim light Stiles can see Scott pretending to look hurt.  
     “The only thing you know how to bake are brownies.”  
     “I bake other things.” Scott says indignantly.  
     Stiles just looks at his friend with his brows raised.  
     “I can’t help that you’re a control freak in the kitchen.”  
     First of all Stiles is not a control freak. Second of all, he can’t help if the way he does things is just better than the way everyone else does them. Besides, Stiles and his dad always go to the McCall’s for Christmas; Christmas Eve is spent franticly wrapping gifts and putting six pairs of scissors in the kitchen so his dad has no excuse to barge into his room yet again and see his gift early; leaving Christmas Eve Eve as the only thing Stiles gets to host. So excuse him for wanting it to be perfect.  
     “It's called hosting.”  
     “Well Allison and I are making something this year.”  
     “Nooo she’s gonna pick something gross and healthy.”  
     “I’ll make sure it's unhealthy, and you can approve it. Deal?”  
     “Fine.” Stiles relents. Remembering that Allison is coming to Christmas Eve Eve gives Stiles an idea. He's not sure if its too much too soon though. Stiles falls asleep debating this, feeling a little better than he did before.


	34. Anything Can Be a Holiday If You Celebrate It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Its Saturday afternoon and Derek is packing to leave campus tomorrow. Derek is having trouble focusing on the task at hand because his stomach has felt like it's been tied in knots since he woke up. Making it even harder to focus is Erica, who supposedly came over to help, but is now sitting cross legged on top of his dresser, commenting on every article of clothing he pulls out of it and being generally unhelpful.  
     Derek unsuccessfully attempts to pull in a deep breath, opens his top draw, and takes out the first thing he sees.  
     “No the red shirt goes better with the black pants you just packed.”  
     Derek looks up at his bossy friend. “You mean the black pants you just made me pack.”  
     “Yea. So…” Erica motions for him to drop the nice blue henley he's holding.  
     “Red shirt.” Derek sighs, hoping it will be quicker if he just gives in.  
     Erica nods her head affirmatively as he folds the approved shirt and transfers it to the duffel bag on his bed.  
     “So what did you and Stiles decide about break?”  
     At the mention of Stiles, Derek’s stomach tightens even further. “What do you mean?”  
     “Well it's a long break, and your such a new couple. You talked about it right?”  
     “Uhhh.” Unable to craft anything intelligent to say, Derek looks down at his bag and fiddles with the zipper.  
     “Tell me you talked about it.”  
     “He’s coming over soon?” Derek says, looking up hopefully.  
     “Way to save it for the last minute Der.” Erica says shaking her head. She then picks up Derek’s phone which is blinking with a new message on the table next to her foot. She unlocks his phone- because of course she does- and reads the text. “And that's my cue to leave.”  
     “He's here?” Derek asks, chest tightening.  
     “Yup.” Erica gracefully jumps off the dresser and they begin walking downstairs together.  
     “What am I gonna say?”  
     “I'm afraid I can't tell you this one my friend.”  
     “Can you give me a hint?”  
     Erica smiles and says, “Just bring up break and talk honestly about it. If you want to be with him, you have to tell him.” She pauses to look at Derek as they reach the lobby. When he nods, she continues “Verbally.”  
     Derek rolls his eyes and opens the door for Stiles.  
     “Well boys, good luck with break.” Erica gives Derek a kiss on the cheek and Stiles a sad pat on the head as she leaves. Stiles cocks his head slightly at her departure, but says nothing as they ascend the stairs to Derek’s room.  
     It takes Derek a few minutes to amass the courage to bring up break, but only about two seconds for the boys to decide that they will definitely be staying together. With “no drifting apart allowed,” as demanded by Stiles.  
     Relieved, Derek pulls his boyfriend in for a long sad hug saying, “You know, I've gotten used to having you around.”  
     Too sad to laugh, Stiles grips Derek tighter and says, “Me too.”  
     “I don't want to not see you for a whole month.”  
     “Then don’t.” Stiles says tone jumping from sadness to tentative excitement.  
     “What?” Derek pulls back to look at Stiles, not sure what he’s getting at.  
     “Come to my Christmas Eve Eve weekend. Me and Scott do it every year, it's usually pretty low key, but we were thinking of making it a whole thing this year.”  
     Derek can see from the way Stiles is slightly bouncing on the balls of his feet that he’s trying not to show how much he wants to do this, which Derek finds adorable, there's just one thing, “Christmas Eve _Eve_?”  
     “Yea.” Stiles juts out his chin defiantly, seeing the a glint of judgement in his partner's eyes.  
     “Christmas Eve Eve isn’t a thing.” Derek says, momentarily forgetting his sadness in favor of teasing Stiles.  
     “It is if you want to see me over break.”  
     Derek really wants to see Stiles over break, so he is quick to loftily declare, “Christmas Eve Eve is my favorite holiday. The holiest of nights. Must be celebrated.” Which makes Stiles laugh and pull him in close again. Derek wraps his arms around his boyfriend and takes a deep breath, feeling the knots in his stomach finally loosen.


	35. Constant Vigilance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Derek

     Home at last, Derek tosses his duffel bag onto the center of his mattress and takes a second to look around his room. Besides the top corner of the Harry Potter poster on his wall drooping downwards, nothing has changed in the three and a half months he's been away at school. Sighing contentedly, Derek plops down next to his bag, rests his back against the headboard, and begins sorting through the clothes he brought home. The bottom layer consists of neatly folded pre planned outfits- courtesy of Erica- on top of which is a jumble of random sweaters and socks he threw in just before leaving. Derek pulls out a red button up of Stiles’ that somehow got mixed in, and is instantly reminded of the only sad part of coming home for the holidays. Missing his boyfriend already, Derek perks up when his phone buzzes and he sees a text from Stiles:  
  
     S: Do you think this elf is evil Y/N  
  
     Its accompanied by a picture of a stocking with what looks like an embroidered elf seconds before it comes to life and murders an entire family. Derek sends back:  
  
     D: Sleep with both eyes open  
     S: I know right?! I can’t trust my dad to buy anything  
  
     “Not even home for an hour and already texting Stiles?” Cora says, leaning on his door frame.  
     “Hello Cora, how are you?” Derek sighs, putting his phone down. Derek knew he was going to regret telling his sisters about Stiles.  
     “Did I hear ‘Stiles’?” Laura yells from down the hallway.  
     Yup Derek defenielty regrets it. The two girls come into his room,- uninvited- sit down on either side of Derek, and begin quizzing him about his new boyfriend. Apparently finding his answers unsatisfactory, Laura reaches over and grabs Derek’s laptop. Despite his protests Laura logs into Derek’s facebook account and begins searching for Stiles while Cora assures him that as his sisters it is their “solemn duty to facebook stalk any and all significant others he may acquire.”  
     Derek rolls his eyes, but allows them to go through and rate every one of Stiles’s profile pictures on a scale of zero to Chris Hemsworth. Halfway through the process, Derek gets a notification of a poll Stiles has posted on a new facebook group for their friends titled: “Stiles and Scott’s Christmas Eve Eve Extravaganza!” Subtitled: “Get ready for the for the best time of your life!” Sub sub titled: “This Christmas tree ‘bout to get lit!” Chuckling, Laura clicks on it and they all read the question:  
  


     Hey friends if we had a party in Beacon Hills on the 23rd would you come?  
     -Yes no town is too far away to hang out with Stiles!  
     -No I hate Beacon Hills and I hate you!  
  
     Scott voted no.  
     “So when are we meeting Stiles?” Laura turns to Derek expectantly.  
     “Umm never?” Derek responds, already knowing his sisters will never let this go.  
     “Umm within the week?” Cora counters. They argue over when it will be appropriate for Stiles to meet the family and eventually come to a reluctant compromise that Laura and Cora will have to wait until the next break from school to officially meet Stiles, but, for being so patient, they will be rewarded with extensive hangout time. Feeling in the back of his mind that he’ll come to regret this compromise, they triple handshake to lock in the deal. With that settled, Laura opens up facebook again and they begin stalking the new girl Cora has been “talking to” whatever that means.  
     One week later Derek is walking through the downstairs hallway, basket of dirty laundry in his hands, when he suddenly hears what sounds like a war cry.  
     “NIN-JA!” Cora leaps out of the kitchen towards Derek who reacts immediately, dropping the basket in his hands and leaping backwards.They freeze in the middle of the hallway hands raised less than a foot apart and stare each other down. Derek and his two sisters have been playing this game for almost as long as he can remember. It started as an innocent playground game they learnt in school, but as they age, so does their competitive spirit. The basic rules of the game are to slap both of your opponents hands. Once both have been hit they are out. However all players must only make one movement at a time and can only do so when it is their turn to strike or to dodge a slap. The Hale rules of the game are that you can surprise any sibling at any time with the game as long as you yell “Ninja” before the slap connects.  
     Derek eyes Cora’s right hand and quickly strikes in the other direction, just barely missing her left. Cora quickly retaliates and they devolve into a series of fast movements and shouts that increase in volume as the stakes rise. The game finishes with a scream of triumph that masks the loser’s shouted curse. Derek then scoops clothes back into his toppled basket as Cora returns to her cereal in the kitchen.  
     With the first surprise ninja of the season out of the way, Derek realizes that he is going to have to mentally prepare himself for the onslaught of attacks he is about to receive. Thinking this, Derek hefts the overloaded basket onto his hip so that he can reach for the laundry room light switch with one hand.  
     “Nin-Ja!”  
     Trapped in the dark doorway Derek is unable to get away fast enough and is hit by a quick slap. Putting his left hand behind his back Derek drops his laundry and swings blindly with his right at Laura- whom he identifies by her evil cackling. Hearing thundering footsteps coming up the hallway behind him, Derek ducks just before Cora swings at his last life in the game.  
     “Fucking shit you guys planned this!” Derek yells, vexed by the second attack on him in two minutes.  
     “Actually we didn’t but it's working out beautifully.”      Cora says as she lunges at him again. Trapped between his sisters Derek does not last long. However he continues to stand in the middle of the doorway, just to make it harder on his attackers.  
     Laura wins and shouts that it “was totally worth waiting in the laundry room for an hour.”  
     Derek vows that there will be retribution, and begins brainstorming as he throws clothes into the washer. He plots for the next three days and waits two more before enacting his plan, hoping to lull Laura into a false sense of security.  
     Derek seizes his opportunity on Saturday afternoon when he overhears Laura making plans to go grocery shopping with their mother. Derek sneaks out the backdoor and runs around to the front of the house and down the driveway, hiding behind bushes and cars as he goes. Reaching the end of the driveway Derek slips into the back seat of his mother’s red SUV. Ducking down between the seats so as not to be seen, Derek settles in to wait. Twenty minutes later his target finally gets into the chair in front of him as their mother sits behind the wheel. Unfortunately the back driver’s side door also opens. Derek’s head whips around and he silently motions for Cora to be quiet, pleading with his eyes for her not to give him up.  
     Thankfully Cora winks and pretends not to see him. Moving into position as slowly as he can, Derek waits for his mother to begin backing out of the driveway before making his move. Just as she puts her foot on the break Derek strikes shouting “Ninja!” directly into Laura’s ear. Trapped by her seatbelt Laura is unable to move her body away and Derek lands a hit on her right hand. Cora immediately strikes at the other hand and Laura just barely slips away, using her turn to fully spin around in her seat. Obnoxiously reaching over the middle console, Laura holds out longer than Derek expected her to.  
     Having given up on berating them over this game long ago, Talia shakes her head and patiently waits for her children to finish before resuming her course. Derek wins and performs his own version of Laura’s maniacal laughter. He then sits back to put his seatbelt on while Laura tunes the radio. Halfway through the drive Africa by Toto comes on and the Hale siblings sing along so loudly their mother yells at them to quiet down. The scolding is undermined by her clear amusement at their antics, so Derek and his sisters continue their dramatic rendition all the way to the grocery store.


	36. You’d Better Be Making Cheesecake With That Shit Or I Swear To Every God...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Stiles

     Stiles leans against the hood of his jeep as he waits for Derek and Isaac’s train to arrive at Beacon Hills Station. Instead of taking a nap like he had planned, Stiles took one look at the way Allison and Scott were eyeing each other and ran out of his house as soon as he could. Allison flew in early this morning on her way home from France and, not trusting Scott to drive his precious Jeep, Stiles became the unfortunate third wheel to their airport reunion. Stiles takes a sip of his coke slurpee and shutters, desperately hoping that Allison and Scott don’t have extreme kinky sex anywhere he can't avoid for the rest of his life.  
     When the train finally pulls in Stiles spots Isaac and Derek coming down the platform and definitely does not rush into Derek’s arms as if they hadn’t seen each other in years- no matter what Isaac says. Once everyone is settled in the jeep, Stiles pulls out of the parking lot and heads off to pick up Boyd, who surprisingly lives only about ten minutes away.  
     “So your dad must be super chill to let us have a party at his house.” Isaac says from the backseat.  
     “Nah, he just doesn’t want us to think too hard about the party he’s having with Scott’s mom at her house.” At their confused looks, Stiles elaborates. “You know how Scott’s mom and my dad have been dating for a few years? Well we started this tradition where my dad and Melissa go to Scott’s house a couple days before Christmas Eve for a ‘staycation,’” Stiles makes exaggerated air quotes with his left hand, “and Scott and I get to have people come stay with us at my house.”  
     “That’s really nice.” Derek says.  
     “It is. Except Jackson, in true douchebro form, is staying at a hotel” Stiles elongates the word mimicking Jackson’s pompous tone “because he's too good for our hospitality!”  
     “Why do you and Jackson always pretend to hate each other?” Derek asks looking at Stiles with genuine curiosity.  
     “Dude i'm pretty sure they actually do.” Isaac interjects.  
     “I enjoy Jackson like I enjoy coffee.”Stiles says, putting the Jeep in park in front of what he hopes is Boyd’s house.  
     “You don't drink coffee.” Derek states.  
     “Exactly.” Stiles says looking at his boyfriend with dead eyes.  
     Isaac snorts. “Well Danny just told me to tell you that Jackson has declared his hotel ‘a fucking dump’” Isaac says with his own Jackson impression. “And he will be staying at your place with the rest of us. But Danny thinks he just doesn’t want to be left out.”  
     “What a loser.” Stiles says as Boyd gets into the car.  
     “Who Jackson?” Boyd asks buckling his seat belt. Stiles gives him an appreciative fist bump before making a u-turn to head back to his house. When they get there Stiles sees Lydia’s car in his usual spot in the driveway and parks on the street.  
     The second Stiles steps through the front door Scott bounds down the steps to greet them, “Hey guys! How's it going?!”  
     Stiles narrows his eyes as he begins climbing the stairs, Scott is acting way too peppy, even for him.  
     “Where ya goin’?” Scott starts walking backwards to stay in front of them.  
     “Boyd brought booze, gotta put it in the freezer.” Stiles shakes the shopping bag he’s holding.  
     “I can do that!” Scott says, reaching for the bag that Stiles, suspicious now, does not let him take as he and the others push into the kitchen. Lydia, Erica, and Allison are sitting at the table which has on it what looks like…  
     “Why is there cream cheese?” Stiles asks trying to remain calm.  
     “What?? Heh-heh” Scott nervously tries to shield the kitchen table with his body.  
     “Scott why is there cream cheese out on my table?” If Scott is making that stupid recipe he and Allison found, which Stiles already vetoed...  
     “Uh..sandwiches! We’re making…” Scott trails off, seeming to realize what he’s saying.  
     “Cream cheese sandwiches?” Derek finishes for him raising one eyebrow.  
     “Well not _plain_ cream cheese sandwiches.” Scott attempts to amend his statement. “There's…other stuff.”  
     “Scott I said no to the sugary cream cheese!” Stiles finally erupts.  
     “The reviews say it tastes great!” Scott insists, actually looking relieved to finally do away with the false pretenses. Scott was always a terrible liar.  
     “They’re fake.”  
     “No their not.”  
     “Who in their right mind takes an entire bite of just cream cheese and says yes this is exactly what I wanted to do?”  
     “It's one layer.”  
     “And the topping.”  
     “Just let us make it!”  
     “It's disgusting, no one will eat it, and I refuse to serve it on my Christmas Eve Eve table!”  
     “Isaac said he would try it.”  
     “Isaac would try a pile of garbage if someone put it on the dessert table.”  
     Scott’s mouth forms a shocked O, and Stiles’ annoyance dies down when he sees Erica almost fall out of her chair laughing and pointing at Isaac who is making his patented pout face. Derek patts his friend on the shoulder, but offers no argument against the statement.  
     Stiles struts around a still frozen Scott and puts Boyd’s bag in the freezer, shutting the door with a sassy flick of his wrist. “So, Pizza?”


	37. Ba Dum Tsh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV:Derek

     Derek wakes up with a dull headache, alone, in an unfamiliar bed. He rolls over and sees a glass of water sitting on the night table next to him. Derek smiles at that and his mind wakes up enough for the events of last night to come back to him and he remembers where he is and why his head hurts. Apparently, playing the card game spoons as a drinking game with this group results in a surprisingly large amount of silverware being flung across the room, as well as a considerable amount of alcohol being consumed. When they reached the point in the early morning hours where Boyd was starting to look like he was trying to learn how to fall asleep sitting up with his eyes open, they called it a night and Stiles assigned them rooms.  
     Derek, of course got to sleep in Stiles’ bed with him; Allison and Scott took the guest room- which is basically Scott’s room at this point in their family’s lives; Erica and Lydia got to sleep in the master bedroom because according to Stiles, besides Allison, they are the only ones he trusts not to throw up on the sheets. While Derek thought this was sound logic, Jackson grumbled about being squished on the love seat while Danny and Isaac got to stretch out on the couch. Boyd simply ignored them all, knocked a pillow off the couch, grabbed the sleeping bag offered by Stiles and fell asleep seconds after hitting the ground. Derek fell asleep himself not long after with Stiles tucked into his side.  
     Wondering where his boyfriend has run off to so early, Derek gets up to go find him. He grabs a green henly from his backpack and puts it on as he walks downstairs. Derek is surprised to see Stiles and Scott standing in front of the kitchen counter in their pajamas chatting amicably as they sculpt scoops of cookie dough into the shape of an ‘S’ and put them on two trays.  
     “Happy Christmas Eve Eve!” Stiles kisses Derek on the cheek.  
     “You too,” Derek says, staring at the almost full trays, “why are you-”  
     “Don’t bother asking,” Lydia swirls a tea bag around her mug, “apparently it's a thing. No one knows why.”  
     Isaac and Allison nod in agreement from the kitchen table, where they’re eating fruit loops. Before Derek can join them, Erica calls for him from the adjacent room, requesting that he bring her the brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts “because the strawberry ones are garbage.” Derek huffs a laugh, grabs pop tarts for the both of them and joins her and Danny on the couch.  
     Almost immediately after Erica divests him of his toaster pastries, Derek hears Stiles shout from the kitchen, “Oh shit we didn't set a timer!”  
     “I think we put them in at 10:42.” Comes Scott’s answer.  
     Derek looks over the island separating the two rooms, and sees Stiles franticly grab the snowman shaped cooking timer off the counter and ask the room at large “what time is it now?”  
     “Time to get a watch. Ba dum tsh.” Isaac says, making his own drum set noises to go along with the worst joke in history.  
     Stiles hands the timer to Scott, “Nope. No. Nope. That is an incorrect answer.” Stiles puts an arm around Isaac’s shoulders and begins escorting him to the front door. “I would have accepted: the correct time, the correct time but in French, ‘it’s time for lunch’, and the old classic ‘summer time.’ Unfortunately you did not select one of these answers and have been eliminated from the competition. You are no longer in the running for becoming America’s Next Top Model.” Stiles punctuates his last sentence by pushing Isaac out of the house and closing the door in his face.  
     “Seriously?” Isaac’s voice is muffled by the thick front door.  
     Stiles, saying nothing, locks the door, returns to the kitchen, washes his hands, and resumes shaping cookies. Derek shrugs his shoulders, as he and the rest of the group silently and collectively decide to let it happen. Isaac deserves it. Even Scott waits a a full a full five minutes before letting him back inside.  
     “We should have an ugly sweater contest next time.” Erica announces to her couch companions.  
     “Oh we can’t do those any more.” Danny says, getting a far off look in his eyes.  
     “Why not?” Derek asks, feeling like there is clearly a story behind this.  
     “Well,” Danny begins, “lets just say, last time we had an ugly sweater contest it got way too intense. It started with Lydia making her Mrs. Claus sweater into an entire costume. Then Alison decided to come fully dressed as an actual Christmas tree. Scott showed up as Abe Lincoln? It was a lot.”  
     “Okay, no ugly sweater contest.” Derek agrees.  
     “You guys are insane.” Erica says looking like she loves her friends even more after that story.  
     In the opposite corner of the room, Stiles gets everyone’s attention and steps into the doorway, “Okay hear me out… Drunk gingerbread houses.”  
     Erica points at Stiles across the room and excitedly shouts, “YES.”


	38. Convex Is So Last Season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV:Stiles

     After a quick and harrowing shopping journey with Erica- trying to get all the gingerbread house making supplies before the stores close, Stiles arrives back at his house laden with boxes of honey maid graham crackers and assorted candies and icing.  
     “Those aren't gingerbread house kits.” Lydia points out haughtily.  
     Stiles dumps the contents of his bags onto the kitchen table. “Its December fucking twenty-third Lydia”  
     “Yes, and?”  
     “They were out!” Stiles waves his hands around still stressed from their mad dash across town.  
     “We went to three stores,” Erica informs Lydia “and then Stiles made us go all the way back to the first one to get the backup graham crackers.”  
     “They were on sale there!” Stiles says for the fifth time today.  
     “The graham crackers will work great.” Derek says coming up behind Stiles and wrapping his arms around him. Stiles leans into the embrace letting the stress wash away.  
     After Derek and Lydia help Stiles and Erica strategically arrange the supplies on the table, they call the rest of their friends in to make drinks and get started. Everyone claims a plate, a box of crackers, and a can of icing. Erica, Allison, and Lydia split between them the box of cinnamon graham crackers, that Stiles still hasn't figured out what Erica intends to do with. Apparently, he’s not the only one.  
     “Why are you only using two random cinnamon crackers?” Danny asks Erica, who has constructed her house with all original flavor crackers, save for the back wall.  
     “It’s called an accent wall.” Erica says as if he should have know.  
     “Okay then what's that, and accent roof?” Danny gestures to Allison’s plate.  
     “Oh I'm sorry, are your roof tiles the exact same shade as the siding around your house?” Allison snipes back, focusing all her energy on keeping said roof from collapsing.  
     “Yo quit while you’re behind bud.” Stiles warns his friend, knowing Lydia’s carefully constructed multi flavor graham cracker walkway is next.  
     “Fine. Lydia your walkway is inspired.” Danny says dryly.  
     “Thank you, I know.” Lydia flips her hair behind one shoulder.  
     Stiles exchanges a look with Derek, who has adorably created his own paved driveway with chocolate icing. Stiles however, has decided to do away with the expected and recreate the last scene from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, using gummy bears as the citizens of Whoville singing around a marshmallow tree. In order to accomplish this on the vast scale he is hoping for, Stiles has been hording the entire pack of gummy bears in his lap under the table. Unfortunately Allison catches on and bargains with him until he trades three bears to populate her sleigh in exchange for one cinnamon graham cracker for something he’s sure he’ll think of in the future.  
     The real surprise today, however, is Jackson who- despite insisting that making gingerbread houses is “childish and a dumb way to spend their time,” has taken the task very seriously. His house is neatly iced together and being decorated with what is clearly a well thought out concept and color scheme. When asked about the change in attitude Jackson only says, “If I have to do it, I’m going to do it right,” and pointedly looks at Isaac’s and Scott’s creations.  
     Isaac’s house has fully collapsed and the boy seems to have accepted the structural failure and is now haphazardly squeezing icing and tossing sprinkles over it, leaving the mess the way it fell. Scott’s house is a little better, with all the walls standing. However the roof has imploded, leaving the two roof pieces inverted within the structure leaning against the walls.  
     Not one to admit defeat, Scott turns to Jackson and says faux-pretentiously, “My roof is _concave_. It's a new structural trend, you probably haven't heard of it yet.” He then takes a butter knife and ices his fallen roof like that was the plan all along.  
     When Stiles finally deems his masterpiece as culty as it can get and Derek puts the finishing touches on his symmetrical suburban home, Stiles takes Derek’s hand and leads him away from the mess and onto the living room couch. They are soon followed by Allison, Scott, and Isaac and the room fills with quiet conversation.  
     Derek turns to look at Stiles with a nervous expression on his face. “So my sisters want to meet you.”  
     “Uh-oh.” Stiles hopes he hasn’t accidently done something to offend them before he’s even had the chance to meet them in person.  
     “No its good.”  
     “Yea?”  
     “Yea.” Derek absently rubs his hand up and down Stiles’ arm.  
     “Okay then I’m excited to meet them.” Stiles sees a goofy smile fighting its way onto Derek’s face and can’t hide one of his own as he thinks about what this means for their relationship. He leans in and kisses his boyfriend.  
     Only to be smacked in the face by popcorn two seconds later.  
     “Get a room.” Scott has the audacity to say from the chair next to them. The too small chair that he is sharing with Allison Stiles might add.  
     Stiles points his finger at the hypocrites, “Don't even fucking talk to me about getting a room. I have repressed so many memories because of you two, I barely remember freshman year.”  
     Allison and Scott look at each other and, seeming to remember the horrors they put Stiles through, Scott smirks and Allison giggles behind her hand.  
     “Well in that case.” Derek takes Stiles’ face in both his hands and kisses him passionately. Someone else throws popcorn at them but Stiles just wraps his hands around Derek’s neck and pulls him farther into the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thanks so much for reading my story, I hope you liked it! I really appreciate all of the comments, they gave me inspiration and motivation to keep writing. I’m planning on writing two shorter companion series’ that focus on the pack’s spring and summer vacation adventures as well as developments in Stiles and Derek’s relationship (with of course special appearances by some other relationships). So look out for those coming out soon :D


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